GMB's Kate Garraway left horrified as ex Coronation Street star shares stalking ordeal

Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway was left horrified as former Coronation Street star Nicola Thorp opened up about her two-year stalking hell on Friday's show

Former Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp shared her harrowing experience of being stalked during an appearance on Friday's Good Morning Britain.

The 35-year-old actress and activist, known for her role as Nicola Rubinstein on the ITV soap from 2017 to 2019, spoke candidly about the ordeal and its impact on her life ahead of a landmark ruling on police handling of stalking cases.

Nicola recounted the moment she was informed of her stalker's arrest: "You'd think it would be a happy day when the police called me and said: 'We've arrested him, we've found him.' I was, I was elated, I said: 'Who is it? Who is this man?' and they said: 'We can't tell you!'"

This revelation left host Kate Garraway visibly shocked, as she responded: "That is terrifying!" Nicola went on to describe the psychological toll the stalking took on her, saying "So I think it was after the arrest because as I know sadly all too well when an arrest happens or when there's a chance someone carrying out this behaviour they might not be able to do it anymore a victim could be at further risk, there could be an increased risk to the victim."

Nicola also expressed her frustration with the lack of information provided by the police: "It was very disturbing to me that I didn't know what this man looked like, I didn't know his name, I didn't know where he lived. I begged the police for months and months to just tell me, give me some information," reports the Mirror.

"The most important thing for me was I wanted to know how tall he was, I wanted to know how much of a physical threat he could be and nothing for months until they eventually showed me a photograph, very fleetingly, of what he looked like.

"I actually had to go to court to find out what his name was so that, I think psychologically, was difficult because he then became everyone that I met."

Co-host Adil Ray then highlighted: "The first time you saw him, this really hammers it home for me, was at the day you were both in the court. You were behind him in the queue?"

Nicola recounted the chilling moment at court while queuing in an 'airport security system', saying: "I was there just trying to focus on what was happening, I knew I was going to be reading out my victim impact statement. I was quite nervous and I just heard this man in front of me say the name and I froze, it was him, I was 30cm away from him."

Nicola's stalker used 25 different identities to target the actress over a terrifying two-year period. He was jailed for 30 months at East London’s Snaresbrook crown court last year.

If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. You can call the national stalking helpline on 0808 802 0300 or find more information here.

Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on both ITV and ITV X.