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Soldier jailed for stalking and murdering ex-girlfriend Alice Ruggles Soldier jailed for stalking and murdering ex-girlfriend Alice Ruggles
(about 1 hour later)
A soldier has been jailed for more than 20 years for murder after he stalked his ex-girlfriend, broke into her flat and cut her throat. The mother of a young woman murdered by an obsessive ex-boyfriend urged other victims of stalking to speak out and not suffer in silence as her daughter’s killer was jailed for life. Alice Ruggles, 24, who worked for the broadcaster Sky, was stabbed with a carving knife by LCpl Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon, 26, in an “act of utter barbarism” at her Gateshead flat in October.
L/Cl Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon, 26, left 24-year-old Alice Ruggles to bleed to death on her bathroom floor in Gateshead last October. Newcastle crown court heard she was terrified of him, and had got an official police warning to stop him from contacting her. But Dhillon, described as obsessive and manipulative and who hoped to join the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, ignored it and drove from his Edinburgh barracks to kill her in a jealous rage.
Newcastle crown court heard that she had been terrified of him and had obtained an official police warning to try to prevent him from contacting her, but he ignored it and drove from his Edinburgh barracks to Tyneside to kill her. As a jury convicted him, her mother, teacher Dr Sue Hills, said awareness of the danger signs of stalking needed to be raised. “I would like what happened to Alice to encourage others to seek support if they are worried about someone’s behaviour,” she said, saying she herself had not identified the signs.
Sentencing Dhillon to serve a minimum term of 22 years, the judge Paul Sloan QC said the murder was an act of “utter barbarism”. Sentencing Dhillon to serve a minimum of 22 years, Judge Paul Sloan QC, said: “Not a shred of remorse have you shown from first to last. Indeed, you were concentrating so hard on getting your story right when giving evidence, you forgot even to shed a crocodile tear.”
“Not a shred of remorse have you shown from first to last – indeed, you were concentrating so hard on getting your story right when giving evidence you forgot even to shed a crocodile tear,” Sloan said. The trial heard that Ruggles, one of four children from Leicestershire, who graduated from Northumbria University and who was working in Newcastle, had developed an intense relationship over the internet with Dhillon while he was serving in Afghanistan. She had seen pictures of him on a mutual friend’s Facebook page and they met for the first time three months later in January last year.
The court was told that Dhillon and Ruggles developed an intense relationship over the internet while he was serving in Afghanistan and Ruggles was working for Sky in Newcastle. During their relationship, he alienated her from her friends, damaged her self-confidence, and demanded her constant attention. He was also serially unfaithful. Friends described her transformation from being bubbly, sociable and a “ray of sunshine” to being withdrawn and gradually isolated from them.
Dhillon soon set about alienating her from her friends, knocking her self-confidence and demanding her constant attention. His previous partner had a similar experience, which ended only after she took out a restraining order, the court heard. When she ended the relationship last August, Indian-born Dhillon, whose father was a major in the Indian army and who is a graduate of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, became obsessive. He hacked into her Facebook account to monitor her movements, sent her pleading messages and crying selfies, and asked her mother over social media to intervene.
When Ruggles ended the relationship in August last year, Dhillon, a signaller with the 2 Scots, became obsessive. He contacted her mother on social media, pleading with her to intervene, hacked into Ruggles’ Facebook account to monitor her movements, and sent her pleading messages and selfies. When he discovered she might be starting a new relationship, he stalked her ground floor flat at night, terrifying her. He made five-hour, 240-mile round trips from Glencorse Barracks in Midlothian to Gateshead to knock on her bedroom window and leave flowers and chocolates on her windowsill.
When he discovered she might be starting a new relationship with an army officer she had met in Germany, Dhillon stalked her ground-floor flat at night, knocking on her bedroom window and terrifying her. She obtained a police information notice instructing him to stop contacting her, and his commanding officer told him to leave her alone. He ignored it, instead sending her a parcel with a pleading note. She declined when police asked if she wanted to have him arrested.
She contacted the police – whose initial response she later described as “brilliant” – and obtained a police information notice, also known as an early harassment notice, telling him to stay away. She later told a friend she felt “palmed off” and told her sister Emma, the police would “respond when he stabs me”. Her flatmate, Maxine McGill, told the court the stress of being stalked led to her becoming “introvert, physically shaking, anxiety, skinny, she lost so much weight”.
When Dhillon then sent her a parcel with a pleading note, Ruggles contacted the police again but declined to have him arrested. She later told a friend she felt “palmed off”, and in frustration told her sister Emma the police would “respond when he stabs me”. On 12 October, Dhillon climbed into her flat through an open window and stabbed her in the bathroom, slashing her throat at least six times. He fled without dialling 999 and took her phone. The court heard, as he had waited for his ex-girlfriend to return home from work, he contacted a woman on Tinder hoping for a casual hook-up.
Northumbria police said they had referred their actions to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but said no one at the time had known the threat he posed. Just before her death, she had been trying on a ballgown and messaging her new potential boyfriend. All contact stopped at around 6pm, when, it is thought, she tried to lock herself in the bathroom to escape.
On 12 October Dhillon climbed into Ruggles’ flat through an open window and attacked her in the bathroom, slashing her throat at least six times. Her flatmate, who found her at 6.30pm and summoned the emergency services, named Dhillon as the suspect. He was arrested at his barracks that night. Her blood was found on his Help for Heroes wristband and on the steering wheel of his BMW, the court heard. He later claimed she had died after accidentally plunging the knife into her own neck.
Ruggles’ flatmate Maxine McGill found her when she came home and called the emergency services. Her harrowing 999 call, in which she repeatedly shouted “Alice” to her fatally wounded friend, was played to the jury. During the call she named Dhillon as a suspect, and he was arrested at his barracks that night. It later emerged that a previous partner had suffered a similar stalking ordeal, which only stopped when she took out a restraining order.
He initially denied having been in the flat that evening, but changed his story after Ruggles’ blood was found on his Help for Heroes wristband and on the steering wheel of his BMW. Northumbria police said they had referred their actions to the IPCC, but said no one at the time knew the threat he posed. “We’re in a very different position now than we were then,” said DCI Lisa Theaker. “Alice didn’t fully understand his level of behaviour and the stalking and the lengths of behaviour he was going to.”
He claimed in court that she had attacked him and that she died after accidentally plunging the knife into her own neck. The court heard that Ruggles was found with 24 injuries, including defensive wounds, while Dhillon, who was almost a foot taller and three stone heavier, was unharmed. In a statement, Alice’s mother, head of maths at Leicester high school for girls, said: “I just keep thinking I can’t believe we didn’t identify the signs of stalking, but you just don’t know when it’s going on.”
She said she felt she had failed her daughter, by teaching her to see good in everyone, and for not standing up to Dhillon when he contacted her on Facebook.
“This feeling of failure will stay with me for ever,” she said. Her father Clive, a professor of archaeoastronomy, said: ”We all share a sense of guilt. Rationally we know only one person is responsible.
Her family has set up the Alice Ruggles Trust to raise awareness of and provide training and education about stalking and related issues.