A doctor’s daughter broke down in tears over the ‘warped and twisted’ online stalking campaign which was waged by a stable-hand she unwittingly grew close to, a court has heard.
Beaumont Bricka is accused of sending makeup artist Eve Taylor ‘appalling’ messages from fake accounts telling her to kill herself as part of his plot to ruin her relationship with innocent Tim Dobson.
Ms Taylor broke down in tears as she told Portsmouth Crown Court that Bricka’s stalking campaign left her in a ‘complete mess’.
The 26-year-old used fake names to send Ms Taylor – and himself – ‘disturbing’ death threats in his ‘warped’ plot to frame her boyfriend for stalking so he could get closer to her.
Ms Taylor said she felt ‘incredibly guilty’ that Bricka – known as Beau – appeared to be getting death threats and felt as if ‘it was my fault’ which led her to exchanging daily messages with him.
Beaumont Bricka is accused of sending makeup artist Eve Taylor ‘appalling’ messages from fake accounts telling her to kill herself as part of his plot to ruin her relationship
Bricka’s mother Tonia, 63, stepped forward and claimed she was behind the stalking but prosecutors alleged she was trying to shoulder the blame
A court has heard ‘quiet’ stables worker Bricka, whose work takes him across the globe to international showjumping events, stalked Ms Taylor and nine other people connected to her.
His alleged victims include Ms Taylor’s father Dr Tim Taylor – who is an NHS Trust’s medical director – her mother, a senior NHS nurse, and her friends and colleagues.
In the dock with him at court is his horse-owning mother, 63-year-old Tonia Bricka, who claims she was behind the stalking but who prosecutors say is simply trying to shoulder the blame for her son.
Bricka, who lives with his mother in a £530,000 cottage in the village of Aldingbourne in the West Sussex countryside, met Ms Taylor at the stables by his home and carried out his ‘twisted’ year-long campaign from 2019 to 2020.
He set up multiple fake accounts with girls names on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and WhatsApp, set up at least 34 different phone numbers, six email addresses, and used three mobile phones.
Using the accounts, he contacted Ms Taylor and her family and friends to wrongly claim her plumber boyfriend Mr Dobson was cheating on her.
Bricka is also accused of spreading lies about her, claiming she has sexually transmitted diseases, posting adverts claiming she is an escort, and branding her a ‘cheating witch’.
Her father Dr Taylor even found himself being investigated by Sussex NHS Trust when Bricka made a false complaint he inappropriately messaged an 11-year-old girl, it was heard.
Ms Taylor’s father Dr Tim Taylor (outside Portsmouth Crown Court) was investigated by Sussex NHS Trust when Bricka made a false complaint he inappropriately messaged an 11-year-old girl
Mr Dobson and Ms Taylor eventually broke up due to Bricka’s alleged plot – and the former was arrested and ‘contemplated suicide’.
‘Chilling’ photos of suicides, nooses and bloody knives were sent by the stalker to Ms Taylor and Bricka and they were encouraged to kill themselves, making her believe he was also a ‘victim’.
Giving evidence at court, Ms Taylor said ‘I was scared. I was devastated, a complete mess. I felt really disturbed and stressed and guilty… It was horrible, the messages made me feel dirty.
‘I didn’t really speak about Beau to my friends, he might have come up with my mum about general horse chat.
‘I was really worried, it felt threatening and felt directed at Beau, who at the time I felt concerned for. We definitely got closer as this was happening as he was receiving messages as well.
‘We were probably messaging quite regularly, almost daily about the case. He was just a friend, I felt incredibly guilty and worried that he was getting death threats and it was my fault.’
The pair exchanged 6,234 messages and Ms Taylor suspected Mr Dobson was behind the ‘vendetta’.
The court heard Bricka suggested Mr Dobson was behind it. Bricka messaged Ms Taylor saying: ‘I asked you for a walk once and he must have seen it… I sent a message saying ‘thank you for that I really enjoyed it’.’
Ms Taylor revealed that she stopped going out and exercising despite having previously ran a lot and done yoga. She also stopped signing because she lost her voice due to the stress. Doctors said she had a muscle tension.
Julie Taylor (pictured outside court), Ms Taylor’s mother, described how she was forced to watch her daughter deteriorate
‘I saw a therapist, it would have been in 2020. Weekly sometimes, twice if I was really stressing,’ she added. ‘It still affects me every day.’
Julie Taylor, Ms Taylor’s mother, told the court when the stalker began messaging her posing as a young girl about cheating claims she was ‘taken in’.
However, when the stalking aimed at her daughter and her ramped up, she described it as ‘awful’ and said she was on ‘red alert’.
She said: ‘Every morning you would wake up to 20 WhatsApp messages and one would be an advert that had been put into the local newspaper showing Eve as an escort.
‘It was awful, I had to turn my phone off at night. There became a time where you could not sleep as the phone would go off all the time.
‘I had to watch my daughter deteriorate, have panic attacks, become depressed.’
She also revealed Bricka spoke to the same private investigator the Taylor family hired to look into Ms Taylor’s stalking. Julie admitted giving Bricka contact the contract details because he was getting messages – albeit sent by himself – too.
NHS medical director Dr Taylor told the court how he was the subject of an investigation at work after allegations were made that he inappropriately messaged an 11 year old girl.
‘Eve came to me and upset and crying’, consultant paediatrician Dr Taylor told the court.
Ms Taylor’s father explained how his daughter was sent correspondence from the hospital relating to the complaint. He said he recognised the name [fake profile Olivia Summers] as the one his daughter had been having problems with.
The court heard how Ms Taylor’s stalker sent the letter along with the caption ‘has your dad lost his job yet’.
Dr Taylor tried to call nursing director Margaret Davies, but she was not permitted to speak to him due to the accusation being investigated.
Ms Davies would go on to become a victim of Bricka’s, it is alleged. She told the court: ‘I walked into a trap. I didn’t realise I was being the victim of a stalker. Neither Dr Taylor nor me knew who this person was, I had no idea what I was walking into. I did everything in good faith.’
When the nurse was added to a group chat and ‘taunted’, she tried to block the number but found the stalker ‘got around that’. She felt ‘upset, powerless, tearful and distressed’.
‘I wanted to do my job and felt like the stalker had control over me. When I walked across the car park at work I felt very vulnerable, I thought ‘is the stalker watching me? It’s had a massive impact on me, I have lost faith in the innocence of people.’
Bricka denies 10 counts of stalking and perverting the course of justice, while his horse-owning mother denies perverting the course of justice.
The eight-day trial continues.
