Hazel | Betrayal Weekly

Summary

Betrayal Weekly | "Hazel" Episode Summary

Podcast: Betrayal Weekly
Host: Andrea Gunning
Date: July 16, 2026
Episode: "Hazel"

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Episode Overview

This episode of Betrayal Weekly centers on Hazel's harrowing story of surviving broken trust and calculated deception. After a divorce from her alcohol-dependent husband, Hazel's attempt to recover and find stability is derailed when a seemingly charming new man, Mark—the "gas engineer"—enters her life. What begins as a whirlwind romance quickly spirals into an ordeal of stalking, manipulation, and invasive surveillance, ultimately culminating in a police investigation, legal action, and Hazel’s fight to reclaim her life and sense of safety.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Life After Divorce and Initial Vulnerability

• Hazel's background: She grew up and lived in a small UK village. Her marriage to Mikey was plagued by his alcoholism and lack of ambition (04:27–06:17).
  • "He couldn't keep a job because obviously being alcohol dependent." – Hazel (04:56)
  • Hazel was driven to improve herself, studying to become a social worker, while Mikey stagnated.
• The End of Her Marriage: After years of stress and broken trust, Hazel and Mikey divorce. Setting Mikey’s things in the car, she’s confronted by the extent of his addiction—his trunk was full of empty liquor bottles (06:13–06:34).
• First Steps Alone: Hazel finds herself living solo for the first time—with only her rescue dog Rico for companionship.

2. The Meet Cute: Mark the Gas Engineer

• Boiler Breakdown: Days after the split, Hazel's hot water fails, and Mark arrives to fix it (07:06–07:37).
• First Flirtations: Mark texts Hazel later under the pretense of a "forgotten laptop case" (08:38–08:59). The interaction quickly becomes flirtatious, with emojis and playful banter.
  • "Seeing that little emoji made me feel a little bit like, oh, okay." – Hazel (09:13)
• Rapid Romance: Soon, the chemistry becomes palpable:
  • "The first thing he did was put me up against the wall and kiss me, which of course blew me off my feet. Like, oh my gosh, I've never had that before." – Hazel (10:18)
• The relationship moves quickly, with Mark often visiting Hazel, sharing laughter and affection, and providing an escape from her recent trauma.

3. Red Flags and Unease

• Friends’ Concerns: Hazel’s friends, especially Vicky, warn her that the relationship is moving too fast and could end badly (13:11–13:22).
  • "It would be headline in the newspapers, murdered by the gas man." – Hazel, quoting her friend (13:11)
• Strange Coincidences: Mark is frequently in Hazel’s neighborhood, claiming various reasons—seeing his "uncle," walking the dog, or delivering Amazon parcels with addresses near Hazel’s house (18:12–19:02).
  • Despite explanations, Hazel’s unease grows as Mark’s presence seems too convenient.

4. The Unraveling: Lies Exposed

• Suspicious Behavior: Mark’s evasiveness peaks when he says he’ll be unreachable for a weekend due to work but is found parked two minutes from Hazel’s house (21:19–22:47).
  • "We're talking two minutes, two minute drive from my house." – Hazel (22:47)
• Confrontation and Gaslighting: When confronted, Mark lies further, sending Hazel a manipulated screenshot of a map to fake his location (23:19–23:44).
  • "I said, I'm not stupid. I know you're not there right now. If you were there right now, you wouldn't have cropped out at the time." – Hazel (23:44)
• Truth Revealed: Mark finally admits he has a girlfriend and a daughter and lives in Hazel’s neighborhood (25:12–25:22).

5. Escalation to Stalking

• After the Breakup: Mark’s behavior turns hostile—he bombards Hazel with messages, attempts to manipulate her emotions, and gaslights her (26:16–27:27).
  • "It was horrendous. It brought back so many feelings that I'd kind of buried from my relationship with my husband." – Hazel (27:08)
• Fake Health Crisis: Mark fabricates a heart attack to elicit sympathy (27:34–28:19).
  • "I've had enough operations in my life to know that you don't take your phone to an operating theater." – Hazel (28:19)
• Online Abuse and Hacking: Mark hacks Hazel’s Facebook and monitors her conversations with others, using this information to continue harassment (29:35–30:18).
  • "You've hacked into my Facebook." – Hazel (30:18)
• Location and Surveillance: Mark is tracking her location via her phone and using her pet camera to spy on her inside her home (31:48–33:18).
  • "I always had the camera pointing at the front door... now the camera was turning slowly, looking around the room. Somebody was controlling it remotely... I think he's in my camera." – Hazel (32:57–33:18)

6. Seeking Help and Taking Action

• Police and Company Responses: Hazel receives mixed and unhelpful responses from the police and Mark’s employers (39:02–39:38).
• Evidence and Arrest: When confronted, Mark admits in writing to accessing the camera (36:47–37:49). Hazel now has evidence and reports him to the police; he is arrested for stalking and harassment (38:53–39:02).
  • "You've got to arrest him because I don't know where this is going to end." – Hazel (38:43)

7. Public Awareness and Justice

• Trial and Aftermath: Mark pleads guilty and receives a suspended sentence and a restraining order (40:37–40:56). Hazel ensures the local press covers the trial:
  • "I felt that I needed to be there to show him that he hadn't broken me." – Hazel (40:08)
• Employer Accountability: After media coverage, Mark is fired from the gas company, which finally acknowledges the seriousness of the case and provides Hazel with counseling (43:06–43:58).

8. Healing, Strength, and Advocacy

• Reclaiming Her Life: Hazel chooses not to move, instead renovating her home to take back her sense of security (45:08–45:23).
  • "He didn't win this. He didn't break me." – Hazel (45:08)
• Newfound Resolve: Hazel speaks of becoming stronger and refusing to tolerate disrespect (45:44).
• Informing Her Work: Her experience informs her practice as a social worker, where she helps others recognize signs of abusive relationships (46:06–46:19).
• Red Flags and Advice:
  • "The massive one is love bombing. If somebody's in love with you after a couple of days, run for the hills." – Hazel (46:24)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Mark’s Manipulations:
  • "He told me about his girlfriend and his daughter. I was in a state of shock." – Hazel (25:22)
• On Creeping Paranoia:
  • "I didn't feel safe. It was horrible. It was invasive." – Hazel (32:08)
• On Taking Her Power Back:
  • "I kind of took back the safety of my house and made it so different that if he walked in here now, he wouldn't recognize it." – Hazel (45:23)
• On Creating Change:
  • "They actually use that case now in training moving forward. So that's really positive. I think that if something like that happened again, that maybe it would be dealt with differently." – Hazel (43:58)
• On Awareness:
  • "It's about awareness, accountability, and reminding people to put their safety first." – Hazel (46:48)

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Important Timestamps

• [04:27–06:17] Hazel’s life before and after her marriage ends.
• [07:06–08:59] Meeting Mark and the beginning of their relationship.
• [13:11–13:22] Friends express concern; red flags emerge.
• [18:12–19:02] Mark seen in Hazel’s area under dubious circumstances.
• [22:38–24:02] Hazel uncovers Mark’s lies about his location.
• [25:22–26:06] Mark admits he has a girlfriend and a daughter.
• [31:48–33:18] Mark is discovered surveilling Hazel via pet camera.
• [36:16–39:02] Confrontation, Mark’s admission, and police involvement.
• [40:37–40:56] Court outcome: Mark’s plea and sentencing.
• [43:06–43:58] Employer finally takes responsibility, fires Mark, and offers support.
• [45:08–46:48] Hazel’s recovery, advice, and advocacy.

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Main Themes & Tone

• Themes: Betrayal, resilience, digital stalking, gaslighting, survivor empowerment, and promoting awareness/accountability for victims and organizations.
• Tone: Intimate, authentic, sometimes raw but ultimately hopeful—conveyed through Hazel’s candid narration and Andrea Gunning’s empathetic hosting.

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Conclusion

Hazel’s story is a powerful reminder of how easily trust can be weaponized, and how hard it can be to escape—and recover from—abuse cloaked in charm. The episode concludes with Hazel’s resolve and the crucial message that even professionals entering our homes require scrutiny and accountability. "Hazel" stands as both a cautionary tale and a beacon for survivors, encouraging vigilance, self-advocacy, and community support.

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For More

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, stalking, or harassment, seek professional help or consult resources provided in the show notes. To share your story with Betrayal Weekly, contact [e-mail].

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Transcript

[Andrea Gunning]

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[Hazel]

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[Andrea Gunning]

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[Hazel]

You've got to arrest him because I don't know where this is going to end. He's a liar, he's a manipulator, and he's an abuser. And I don't think he'll stop unless he's made to stop.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about the people we trust the most and the deceptions that change everything. Today we're sharing Hazel's story. She feels more comfortable telling her story with a pseudonym, but the rest of the names and details in this story are unchanged. Hazel lives in a small town in the uk.

[Hazel]

It's a village with two shops and there's not really a lot there, to be honest.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel married her husband Mikey when she was 18. In her early 20s, she started studying to be a social worker.

[Hazel]

I started college and working a lot, so I wasn't really home. And I think Mikey's reaction to that was he was at home, bored, so he'd have a drink.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mikey's drinking turned from a habit to an addiction.

[Hazel]

It was awful. It was awful. He couldn't keep a job because obviously being alcohol dependent, so that put more pressure on me, having to pay the bills, make sure you've got enough money.

[Andrea Gunning]

He's always working hard to build a full life. She had big dreams, but over time, it became clear that Mikey couldn't grow with her.

[Hazel]

I wanted to better myself and get a better career and do something meaningful, and he was kind of stuck.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mikey's struggle with addiction changed him. He began lashing out at Hazel. He'd tell her that he wasn't drinking, but she started to see that he was just hiding it.

[Hazel]

When I'd come down in the morning, he'd have made me a coffee and he'd have one himself and there would be vodka in his coffee. My anxiety was through the roof. It was just horrendous.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel realized she Couldn't trust him anymore.

[Hazel]

We tried to save our marriage, but it just got worse. Over the next couple of years, things weren't good.

[Andrea Gunning]

Eventually, it was clear that Mikey needed professional support and Hazel needed a supportive partner. And neither of them could be that for each other.

[Hazel]

It just got out of control.

[Andrea Gunning]

She and Mikey decided to divorce. The day he left, Hazel helped him pack up his things. Finally, she grabbed the last box and put it in his car. When she opened the trunk, it was

[Hazel]

filled with empty bottles of vodka, whiskey.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then Mikey drove away. That's how Hazel found herself living alone for the first time as an adult. Well, almost alone.

[Hazel]

I had a dog called Rico. He was my little rescue dog. He rescued me as much as I rescued him. I call him my soul dog.

[Andrea Gunning]

She was learning how to do a lot of things on her own. Just a few days after Mikey moved out, Hazel went to take a shower and discovered the water was freezing cold.

[Hazel]

I had no hot water, so I had to ring this company up and say, you've knackered up my hot water. I don't have any hot water. So they said, we'll send somebody out the next day.

[Andrea Gunning]

Sure enough, the next morning, she heard a knock on her door. It was a repairman from the gas company.

[Hazel]

He was very tall, but didn't think anything of him. Just a gas man.

[Andrea Gunning]

He got to work on the hot water heater. Hazel went back to the living room where she was hanging out with her best friend.

[Hazel]

We'd known each other since playgroup, you know, really, really close. So she, of course, was the person I rang when I'd realized that, yeah, that's it, marriage is over. I was on the floor. I was at my most vulnerable, 100%.

[Andrea Gunning]

It was a relief to have her best friend there to listen.

[Hazel]

I was talking about Mikey and his alcohol dependency and the lies and. Just that I couldn't do it anymore.

[Andrea Gunning]

Eventually, the repairman finished fixing the boiler. He popped his head into the living room, told Hazel he was done and left.

[Hazel]

So my hot water was fixed. My friend had left. Didn't really fancy being in the house on my own, so I went over to my mum's. Just trying to keep myself busy.

[Andrea Gunning]

She was at her mom's, sitting on the couch, doing the same thing she'd been doing for days.

[Hazel]

I sat thinking about, you know, the end of my marriage.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then her phone buzzed.

[Hazel]

I got a text message from a number that I didn't know. Said, it's Mark, the gas engineer. Can I just ask, did I leave my laptop case at your House. I told him I'd have a look. And when I got home, there was no laptop case. So I messaged him and said, oh, you know, it's not here. Maybe you left it at another job.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then he texted an emoji.

[Hazel]

He put one of those kiss face emojis, the little emojis with a little blowing out heart. And then he apologized for sending the emoji. He said it was an accident and I said it was okay, I didn't mind. And then he sent another one that made her laugh. Seeing that little emoji made me feel a little bit like, oh, okay. We just started texting, we just started talking, just general things.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark's texts were a welcomed distraction.

[Hazel]

I didn't have to think about my marriage ending. I didn't have to think about all the stress that that brought on.

[Andrea Gunning]

They started flirting and bantering over text.

[Hazel]

And it made me feel good. It made me feel, oh my God, you know, somebody could actually care about me.

[Andrea Gunning]

They started talking on the phone sometimes too. After a couple of weeks, he messaged

[Hazel]

and said, oh, I've got a job around the corner, can I pop in for a coffee? And I was like, oh my gosh, yeah, sure, come over.

[Andrea Gunning]

Ten minutes later, she heard a knock on her door. When she opened it, Mark was standing in front of her, smiling. They'd been flirting for weeks, and now in person, she clearly felt the chemistry.

[Hazel]

The first thing he did was put me up against the wall and kiss me, which of course blew me off my feet. Like, oh my gosh, I've never had that before.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel was nervous that hanging out in person might turn out to be an awkward endeavor. But to her surprise, we got on,

[Hazel]

we laughed and it was nice. There was no awkward silences. If there was a silence, it was comfortable.

[Andrea Gunning]

After that day, they started hanging out more often.

[Hazel]

He would come and see me whilst I was working nights whilst I was studying. He was making me laugh.

[Andrea Gunning]

She had spent years in her marriage taking care of her ex husband. Mark was a breath of fresh air.

[Hazel]

It was different with Mark. It was so much affection. We said it was a passion night neither of us had felt before.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark made her feel sexy and wanted. Before long, they started dating officially. When Mark got off work, he would go to Hazel's place and they would spend their evenings together. Mark made even mundane things feel exciting.

[Hazel]

Mark was stupid funny. He would make a twat out of himself and you would just be laughing at him rather than with him. He'd start doing really silly dances around the house. If a Song came on, he'd start stripping his clothes off and I'm just sat there like, what are you doing? But it was really funny and we just got on. It just felt so natural. And that laughter got me through.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark texted Hazel all the time. He didn't hide his feelings for her.

[Hazel]

He would draw hearts on his phone and tell me how beautiful I was. He would send a message and he would say, il and then dash, dash, dash you. And I was like, well, is that like or is that love? Obviously it was love.

[Andrea Gunning]

When he wasn't around, she missed him.

[Hazel]

There was passion there that I'd never felt before. And it felt really nice. It felt wonderful.

[Andrea Gunning]

She finally found someone that could meet her halfway.

[Hazel]

He had a stable job with a big company, the pension was really good and obviously I was training to be a social worker.

[Andrea Gunning]

As time went on, Hazel started imagining what life with Mark could look like.

[Hazel]

I thought that this is great. Neither of us have got children. We could have two good incomes. He's got a stable job. He's funny, he makes me laugh, he makes me feel good about myself. There's a future here.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel's friends were worried about how fast their relationship was moving.

[Hazel]

One of my friends, Vicky, said, it's too quick, it's too fast. She said it would be headline in the newspapers, murdered by the gas man. You know, jokingly.

[Andrea Gunning]

But Hazel wasn't amused.

[Hazel]

Come on, sometimes things happen like this, you know.

[Andrea Gunning]

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[Andrea Gunning]

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[Hazel]

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[Andrea Gunning]

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[Andrea Gunning]

A few days after Hazel's husband moved out, she called the gas company to fix her hot water. That led to a meet cute with a man named Mark. After weeks of flirting over text, their relationship developed into something real. They began hanging out whenever they could find time.

[Hazel]

I thought that this is great. He's got a stable job. He's funny, he makes me laugh, he makes me feel good about myself. There's a future here.

[Andrea Gunning]

The only complication was that he lived 30 minutes away, but luckily he was often in her town for work. They would make a date of it.

[Hazel]

I would cook for him, he would come over. He made me feel good about myself, telling me how beautiful I was and how wonderful I was and how we were perfect for each other.

[Andrea Gunning]

At the time, Hazel was still in school, training to be a social worker. Her schedule was packed. It helped that Mark was always willing to make the drive to her place.

[Hazel]

I was so busy, I was studying, working. So it just worked. It just fitted.

[Andrea Gunning]

But Marek had to work early mornings, so he rarely spent the night.

[Hazel]

There was one day, for some reason, I think I needed to go and get something from the shops. It was about half six. So I was driving to the shop and I saw Mark walking his dog in my area.

[Andrea Gunning]

This was weird. Why would Mark be walking his dog so far from his own house?

[Hazel]

And I stopped the car and I was like, what are you doing around here? And he said, oh, oh, my uncle lives around the corner, so sometimes I'll bring the dog over and walk the dog around here. It's got a really nice dog walking field. I was like, oh, okay. Bit weird, but all right.

[Andrea Gunning]

He'd never mentioned he had family in her area, but that made things even more convenient. A few days later, Mark came over to Hazel's house. She went outside and greeted him as he got out of his truck. As she hugged him, her eyes landed on the front seat.

[Hazel]

I saw an Amazon parcel with an address on it two roads from where I live.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark lived a half hour away. Why would he have a package addressed to a home in her neighborhood?

[Hazel]

I thought maybe he just got it delivered to his uncle's house. Maybe that was easier for him. I don't know.

[Andrea Gunning]

She made a mental note at the address. Hazel and Mark had been dating for months. They'd become a part of each other's daily lives. Many nights after work, they'd walk her dog, Rico, together. Mark loved Rico as much as she did. And when they weren't together, they texted and called each other constantly, talking on

[Hazel]

the phone all the time, texting all the time. If we ran out of things to say, we would just send hearts to each other and we'd play games and things on Snapchat. It was easy.

[Andrea Gunning]

For the first time in a long time, Hazel felt settled in her life. She decided to buy the house she'd been renting for the past few years. And she started to consider asking Mark to take a big step with her.

[Hazel]

I thought about him moving in here, living together, having a stable relationship, which I hadn't had in such a long time.

[Andrea Gunning]

One day, Hazel went on a hike with one of her friends.

[Hazel]

We went to a place. It's called Simmons Yacht, and it's a big lake, big forest. And we walked around the woods. Such a beautiful place.

[Andrea Gunning]

After a few hours of hiking and catching up, they headed home. On their drive back, she spotted what looked like Mark's work van.

[Hazel]

He was parked on the side of the road.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel did a double take. What was Mark doing out here? Maybe it wasn't him. But as they drove closer, she was sure it was Mark.

[Hazel]

And he was out of his van and he was looking in his van. And we just carried on driving.

[Andrea Gunning]

Over the next few weeks, Hazel started seeing Mark's work van more and more. When she asked him about it, he said he had a lot of repairs in the area, but how many boilers could be broken on her street.

[Hazel]

I felt really uneasy after he said that, but I thought, no, it's fine, it's fine.

[Andrea Gunning]

One weekend, Mark told Hazel he was going on a trip.

[Hazel]

He was going to his friend's house that was in the middle of nowhere and he was spending all weekend there and he was re piping the whole house. So he wasn't able to talk to me. So I was like, that's fine, that's no problem.

[Andrea Gunning]

She knew he couldn't talk while he was at his friend's house, but she figured his drive there would be a great time to catch up.

[Hazel]

So I was like, I'll ring him on the way.

[Andrea Gunning]

She called Mark. Usually he picked up right away, but this time it went to voicemail.

[Hazel]

He didn't answer. So I thought, okay, something's not right. He always answers the phone. The phone has rung, so he's got signal.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel had a bad feeling. She thought back to the Amazon package on his front seat. It was addressed to a street just around the corner.

[Hazel]

So I thought, right, I'm going to get in my car and I'm going to drive down that road.

[Andrea Gunning]

She drove down the road, scanning each driveway nervously. She wasn't sure what she was looking for or if she'd find anything. After a few minutes, she saw something that made her hit the brakes.

[Hazel]

I saw his van parked on the drive.

[Andrea Gunning]

She drove closer, and sure enough, it was his license plate.

[Hazel]

We're talking two minutes, two minute drive from my house.

[Andrea Gunning]

He said he was with a friend far away in the countryside with no phone service. But his car was parked right down the street from her. She texted Mark and told him she saw his van parked in the neighborhood.

[Hazel]

He then went into kind of panic mode. He told me that he'd gone up the road to find some signal to ring me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark insisted that he was visiting his friend, that he was miles away.

[Hazel]

He's like, I'll send you my location.

[Andrea Gunning]

He sent her a screenshot of a map.

[Hazel]

He'd gone onto Google maps and he'd sent me a screenshot. And it was a little dot in the middle of nowhere.

[Andrea Gunning]

For a second, it did look like Mark was in the countryside. A small dot surrounded by big green fields. But as Hazel looked closer at the screenshot, she noticed something was off.

[Hazel]

He'd cropped out the time and the date. I said, I'm not stupid. I know you're not there right now. If you were there right now, you wouldn't have cropped out at the time. He carried on making up more lies, telling me I'm being paranoid. Everything was in my head.

[Andrea Gunning]

But Hazel was staring straight at his van. She was certain this was real. Whenever Mark came to Hazel's, he parked on the street. But here at this house, he was parked in the driveway. Did Mark live here? It all felt suspicious. And he was clearly lying to her.

[Hazel]

This is it. I can't be in another relationship where there's dishonesty. Once the trust is gone, the trust is gone. You can't get it back. I said, I'm done. I'm done. It's over. I can't do this anymore.

[Andrea Gunning]

As soon as she said that, Mark's tone shifted. He responded right away and began telling Hazel that this was all her fault.

[Hazel]

It's all because of my ex husband. Why I'm so broken. I don't deserve him.

[Orderly Meds Announcer]

Really.

[Hazel]

Just horrible, horrible messages.

[Andrea Gunning]

No matter what he said to her, Hazel knew what she'd seen. He was lying and she'd caught him in the act. That's when Mark stopped pretending. He admitted that he lived in that house just two minutes away from her.

[Hazel]

I drove past his house every day.

[Andrea Gunning]

At this point, Mark knew all his lies were unraveling. So he admitted the full truth.

[Hazel]

He then told me about his girlfriend and his daughter. I was in a state of shock.

[Andrea Gunning]

Lying about where he lived was one thing, but this was so much darker than that. Mark was lying about his entire life.

[Hazel]

He lives in the same area as me and he's been lying from day one. Hazel was disgusted, but then reflecting on it, it all makes sense. Never spent the night. You know, I thought it was because it fitted in with me and it fitted in with my work really well. But actually, yeah, it made sense. And why on earth did I not clock on to, yeah, there's probably somebody else?

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark was grasping at straws, trying to get her back. He told her he would leave his family for her. When she said she didn't want that,

[Hazel]

trying to blame me made me think it was all in my head. You know, real gaslighting, horrible behavior.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark was being cruel in a way she had never experienced before.

[Hazel]

And I was like, I'm done. Get your stuff. Get out my house. I don't want you anywhere near me.

[Andrea Gunning]

At the time, Hazel was working at a women's center where she was training to be a social worker, which was

[Hazel]

the perfect place for me to be going through all this because I had on hand support, and they advised me to not block people. Don't block people like that, because if they don't have a channel of communication, that's when they start turning up. And then obviously, you were at bigger risk. So I didn't block him.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark was messaging her incessantly, berating her, trying everything to get her attention.

[Hazel]

It was horrendous. It brought back so many feelings that I'd kind of buried from my relationship with my husband. I felt all the anxiety was coming back. Mistrust. I felt sick. I couldn't eat. I lost so much weight.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark was getting increasingly agitated and desperate. Then she got an alarming message from

[Hazel]

him saying that he'd had a heart attack and was in hospital and he'd almost died. And I thought, oh, my God, have I done this? I felt awful. I messaged him back. I said, you know, you're going to be okay. You're in the right place.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark responded right away. He told her that he was about to go in for heart surgery.

[Hazel]

He was texting me from his hospital bed saying that he was being pushed towards theater and that he could see the lights above his head because he was led flat. That's all he was trying to focus on.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel's concern melted away and was replaced by skepticism.

[Hazel]

I've had enough operations in my life to know that you don't take your phone to an operating theater. All your belongings get bagged up, and they get put safely away somewhere. So I was like, come on. At this point, I'm just like, this is bullshit. This isn't true.

[Andrea Gunning]

When Hazel ignored Mark's texts, she started getting harassing, coercive messages from unknown numbers.

[Hazel]

I then got messages on Facebook, signal and imessages, pleading, apologizing.

[Andrea Gunning]

When she first met Mark, she thought he was her ticket out of a dark period of her life. But now he was pulling her further and deeper into despair and isolation.

[Hazel]

I was managing to eat crackers and drink water. That was all I could kind of keep down at the time. And that just kind of escalated. And, you know, I was already kind of burning out with what I was doing. But then not being able to eat and keep food down, I was just burning out even more.

[Andrea Gunning]

She decided to get on a dating app.

[Hazel]

I think I was just looking for somebody to make me feel Better because I couldn't make myself feel better.

[Andrea Gunning]

She matched with a few guys and started messaging one of them more regularly. Eventually, they moved their conversation off the app and onto Facebook Messenger.

[Hazel]

But then I started getting messages from Mark about the things that I was saying with this guy. My private messages to this guy. He knew the bloke's name. He knew what the context we were talking about. He said that we were talking about awful things.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel was scared.

[Hazel]

How do you know that I haven't spoken to you? And he's like, the guy's messaged me and told me and sent me screenshots.

[Andrea Gunning]

But this guy didn't even know that Mark existed. That's when it dawned on Hazel.

[Hazel]

You've hacked into my Facebook.

[Andrea Gunning]

She changed her Facebook password, but that was only a temporary solution. She was getting calls and texts from unknown numbers at all hours of the day.

[Hazel]

The messages carried on and then it got kind of really nasty. So he started calling me a whore, started calling me a slut for moving on so quickly.

[Andrea Gunning]

Mark's behavior was escalating. Hazel decided to reach out for support.

[Hazel]

I rang 101, which is our non emergency police line, but they said they've got no way of tracking him. Chai, my network provider. My network provider did offer for me to have block numbers stopped. But actually sometimes important people ring on block numbers. The police ring on block numbers, the doctors do. So actually that would be impacting my life more.

[Andrea Gunning]

So Hazel was left to deal with Mark on her own. Knowing that he lived in her neighborhood was terrifying. She was scared. He was hiding around every corner.

[Hazel]

I couldn't drive past his house, so I was doing a detour. Every time I saw one of those vans, I'd get panic attacks.

[Andrea Gunning]

She remembered how often she ran into him when they were dating. Now she wondered, had that really been a coincidence. She checked find my friends on her phone and saw that Mark had access to her location. But she'd never given it to him.

[Hazel]

He must have got my phone at some point while we were together and set my location so he could see it.

[Andrea Gunning]

He was tracking her. And maybe he'd been tracking her since the very beginning. She didn't know what else he knew or what other ways he might be watching her.

[Hazel]

I didn't feel safe. It was horrible. It was invasive.

[Andrea Gunning]

She lived in a state of paranoia for months.

[Hazel]

One morning I'd come downstairs and we've got candles. They're called imperial candles and they smell absolutely beautiful and they've got jewelry inside. So I'd gone downstairs and the candle had burnt down enough that I could get the jewelry out.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel stood by the breakfast bar fishing out the jewelry from the candle.

[Hazel]

So I was stood there for quite a while because they're quite hard to get out.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then she heard something.

[Hazel]

I heard like a noise.

[Andrea Gunning]

She looked up slowly. In the corner of her living room, she kept a pet camera.

[Hazel]

I always had the camera pointing at the front door because that was where Rico would always howl.

[Andrea Gunning]

But now the camera was turning slowly, looking around the room. Somebody was controlling it remotely. When it was pointing directly at her, the camera stopped and I just froze.

[Hazel]

I think he's in my camera.

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[Andrea Gunning]

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[Hazel]

I can clear my search history, but

[Andrea Gunning]

I can never unsee that.

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[Andrea Gunning]

After Hazel broke up with Mark, he began harassing her. It started with incessant text messages and calls. Then he hacked into her Facebook account. And then one morning, Hazel was in her living room when she heard her pet camera move. Someone was controlling it remotely. When it was pointing directly at her, the camera stopped and I just stood

[Hazel]

and I just froze. I didn't know what to do.

[Andrea Gunning]

She grabbed her phone and logged into the pet camera app and it said, two viewers.

[Hazel]

So me and somebody else. Now, I didn't live with anyone else, never given access to anybody. No one else should have had any access to the camera.

[Andrea Gunning]

This had to be Mark. And with the camera pointed straight at her, she knew he was watching her. That very moment, I thought, okay, just

[Hazel]

try and act normal. I picked up my keys, I picked up my phone and I just left the house.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel was rattled.

[Hazel]

What's going to happen next? I don't know what to do. If I cut off my camera, is he gonna start turning up?

[Andrea Gunning]

She ran through options in her mind.

[Hazel]

I deleted all of his messages at one point because I didn't wanna read them again. I didn't wanna relive it. So I thought, okay, if I ring the police, I've got no evidence, so it's my word against his.

[Andrea Gunning]

Eventually, she decided to confront Mark directly.

[Hazel]

I messaged him and I said, I know he's been in my camera. I know you've been watching me.

[Andrea Gunning]

And to her surprise, he admitted it.

[Hazel]

He said that it was because he missed me so much and that he didn't know how else for me to be part of his life.

[Andrea Gunning]

His words were alarming. But Hazel gained something valuable.

[Hazel]

I had evidence.

[Andrea Gunning]

He'd admitted in writing what he'd done and why he did it. Hazel reported him to the police.

[Hazel]

The police came out to see me the next day, took a full statement, asked me what I wanted to do, and they gave me three options. They said they can have a word with him and tell him to stop. They can arrest him, or they can just record it in case something else happens and then they've got a bigger picture. And I sat there and I just thought, if something else happens.

[Andrea Gunning]

Her mind went to dark places. What did they mean, if something else happens?

[Hazel]

And that kind of sat with me. And I thought, it's escalated to the point already, which is horrendous. Didn't feel safe in my own home.

[Andrea Gunning]

So she told the police she'd made her decision.

[Hazel]

You've got to arrest him because I don't know where this is going to end. He's a liar, he's a manipulator and he's an abuser and I don't think he'll stop unless he's made to stop.

[Andrea Gunning]

A few days later, Mark was arrested.

[Hazel]

He'd been arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel knew he was still employed by the gas company. She called them and explained that Mark was a liability to their customers safety.

[Hazel]

I was just trying to get my point across and say that this man is dangerous and you've got him going into people's homes and you need to get him out. They said it was the wireless heating system company's problem.

[Andrea Gunning]

So Hazel called them and then they

[Hazel]

said, it's the gas company's problem. So I was just getting bounced from the two companies and I was on the phone for hours.

[Andrea Gunning]

This pathway wasn't working. Nobody she spoke to knew how to help. With Mark's trial coming up, Hazel decided she wanted her story to serve a broader purpose. She wanted to spread awareness about stalking and perpetrators like Mark. Before Mark's trial, Hazel reached out to her local newspaper to make sure there

[Hazel]

was a reporter there, because I thought, this isn't going under the carpet.

[Andrea Gunning]

On the day of Mark's trial, Hazel went to court.

[Hazel]

I felt that I needed to be there to show him that he hadn't broken me. I had probably about seven or eight friends with me that had come to be there and to support me. I read my victim impact statement and my hands, they were really, really shaking.

[Andrea Gunning]

There was overwhelming evidence of Mark's harassment and stalking, including his own confession to Hazel.

[Hazel]

He pled guilty. He got an 18 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He got an indefinite restraining order preventing any contact with myself. And he's not allowed in my road.

[Andrea Gunning]

Two days later, the local newspaper reported on Hazel's story and Mark's crimes. Over the coming weeks and months, the story spread to other outlets across the uk.

[Hazel]

I had papers writing to me and magazines writing to me.

[Andrea Gunning]

We've had voice actors read some of the headlines. We've anonymized the name of Mark's former employer. Gas engineer who hacked into ex's pet camera to spy on her avoids jail.

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This is what it's like to be stalked in your own home. Gloucestershire woman's full account of how ex

[Andrea Gunning]

gas engineer hacked into her cameras after fixing her boiler. Gas engineer stalked ex girlfriend by hacking pet camera inside her Home. Telling her story was challenging at first, but she has continued to tell it because she knows how important it is to put language to her experience.

[Hazel]

I didn't think of harassment and stalking. I just saw it as, he's got a screw loose, and he just needs to leave me alone. It wasn't until the police said stalking and harassment that I really started to reflect on what I had gone through and how serious it was.

[Andrea Gunning]

When Mark showed up at her house to fix her boiler, Hazel was at her most vulnerable. When she was talking with her friend about her divorce, Mark was in the next room.

[Hazel]

He was listening to everything. He told me that later on, he was listening to the fact that I was crying.

[Andrea Gunning]

He heard her desperation. And just hours later, he swooped in and started flirting with her. Mark saw Hazel was lost because of that. She'd make the perfect target. One night, Hazel got a call from an unknown number.

[Hazel]

And I was like, oh, my God. The restraining order hasn't worked. None of this has worked. He thinks he can message me again and ring me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Nervously, she picked up the phone. She braced herself to hear Mark's voice. Instead. It was the CEO of the gas company.

[Hazel]

And he said that he'd read the article. He'd terminated Mark's contract with immediate effect. He already had people going to his house to collect the van, collect all the equipment, and he was very sympathetic as to what happened.

[Andrea Gunning]

The gas company connected her with mental health services.

[Hazel]

They gave me counseling through their counseling service, which helped me a lot use cbt, which really did change my view on him. He wasn't scary anymore. He was just this little pathetic man that is just not worth my time, my thought, my energy.

[Andrea Gunning]

Even though it had taken a stalking conviction, it was meaningful that the company reached out to support her.

[Hazel]

I received an apology and lots of reassurance, and they actually use that case now in training moving forward. So that's really positive. I think that if something like that happened again, that maybe it would be dealt with differently.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel suspects that Mark's girlfriend found out that he was cheating on her. After Hazel broke up with him, she learned that his girlfriend had also kicked him out of the house. But more recently, Hazel saw Mark and his girlfriend together in their driveway. That means Mark is still two roads away.

[Hazel]

So I drive past his house most days, but I do it with my head held high. He didn't win.

[Andrea Gunning]

Hazel has a permanent restraining order against Mark. He's not allowed on her road, but that only offers so much protection. It was scary knowing that Mark lived around the corner For a while, Hazel thought about moving. But in the end, she decided to stay. It didn't seem right that she should be the one forced out of their neighborhood. For Hazel, staying in her home symbolizes.

[Hazel]

He didn't win this. He didn't break me.

[Andrea Gunning]

She didn't want Mark to be the reason she left a place she loves deeply. She wanted to rebuild and make her home somewhere she felt comfortable again. So she decided to renovate.

[Hazel]

I completely ripped out everything and started again. I kind of took back the safety of my house and made it so different that if he walked in here now, he wouldn't recognize it.

[Andrea Gunning]

She refuses to uproot her life because of what Mark did. Instead, she's leaned into her community and shifted her mindset.

[Hazel]

It's made me stronger. I will not take any shit. I won't. I will not put up with anything. I will not be told I can't do something or be spoken about disrespectfully by anybody.

[Andrea Gunning]

Knowing the realities of stalking and harassment firsthand has informed her career.

[Hazel]

It's made me a better social worker in cases like this. I will share some of my story with some families. We'll sit and we'll talk about red flags.

[Andrea Gunning]

We asked Hazel to share the signs she encourages people to look out for.

[Hazel]

The massive one is love bombing. If somebody's in love with you after a couple of days, run for the hills. Like run for the hills. You can't be in love with somebody after a couple of days.

[Andrea Gunning]

We end every weekly episode with the same question. Why do you want to share your story?

[Hazel]

What happened to me highlighted the gaps in how people are protected. There's professionals that are coming into your home. You would expect them to be safe. You would expect them to have checks done on them to know that they are safe to be entering people's homes. This isn't just my story. It's about awareness, accountability, and reminding people to put their safety first.

[Andrea Gunning]

On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly, My sister starts receiving these text messages from an unknown number. Who else is getting these messages? Why did it start with us? If you'd like to share your story on betrayal, please email betrayalpod Gmail.com that is betrayalpodmail.com Please note that we are not a mental health organization. If you are in crisis or currently experiencing domestic violence, we encourage you to seek local help or dial 911. Please contact organizations that offer immediate support. In our show notes, we've included a list of US based resources. You can follow us on Instagram, etrialpod or Find Me andreagunning To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community, join our [e-mail] we're grateful for your support. One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five star reviews go a long way. Big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Faison, hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning Written and produced by Olivia Hewitt. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Also produced by Ben Fetterman. Our Associate Producer is Leah Jablo Production management by Kristen Melchuri Booking support by Curry Richmond Our Our iHeart team is ally Perry and Jessica Krynczyk. Audio editing by Tanner Robbins with additional editing and mixing by Matt D'. Albicchio betrayal's theme composed by Oliver Baines music library provided by MyMusic and for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartradio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

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[Hazel]

Only $9.99.

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[Andrea Gunning]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.