Shirley Ballas makes heartbreaking confession after six-year stalker ordeal
The Strictly Come Dancing head judge has spoken out after being targeted by a stalker who accused her of killing a member of her family
Shirley Ballas has opened up on her stalker hell (Image: Getty)
Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas has revealed she will “never feel completely safe again” following a terrifying stalking ordeal that forced her to relocate her elderly mother. The 64-year-old was compelled to move her mother to a different residence and bolster security arrangements after being tormented by Kyle Shaw, 37, who admitted to stalking the dancing legend at Liverpool Crown Court in February.
Shaw’s harassment campaign lasted from August 31, 2017, to November 29, 2023, causing the television personality serious alarm and distress. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Ballas confessed: “I will never feel completely safe again. I’m looking around and watching all the time… and life shouldn’t have to be like that. That’s what he’s done to me and my family.”
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Shirley is the head judge on Strictly Come Dancing (Image: Getty)
The Wallasey-born star opens up about the harrowing experience in her latest memoir, Best Foot Forward. It details how Shaw pursued and confronted her elderly mother, Audrey, while she was shopping.
Ballas lived in constant fear that he might “put a bomb through the letterbox” or “set the house on fire”.
She revealed Shaw’s disturbing behaviour commenced when he began bombarding her with social media messages, falsely claiming to be the biological son of her late brother David, who tragically took his own life in 2003, aged 44.
The television judge explained: “The messages he wrote to this little old lady who has never gotten over the death of her son, it was very hard.
“As for me, I don’t think I’ve ever travelled by train since, I’m always looking over my shoulder. If I go to the park, I never go after six o’clock. If I’m walking somewhere, I never have earplugs in.”
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Ballas revealed to the Sunday Mirror that one message stated: “‘Just a reminder, my dad is dead because of you, because you left him alone. He’s dead. You killed him. You murdered him. You did this. Why did you leave my dad to die?’.”
Following the incident, she had CCTV cameras and an additional alarm system fitted at her property, with the BBC providing extra security during her work on Strictly projects.
Ballas claimed Shaw forwarded her an image of her home and vehicle via social media, threatened to appear at events during the promotional tour for her first novel, and obtained her former partner Danny Taylor’s telephone number.
