Verdens Gang - 7th July 1998

Impossible to shake off sex-crazed Englishman

By Alexander Nordby

For 16 years a sex-crazed Englishman has terrorised Heidi Schøne with his letters, telephone calls and threats.

The Englishman is completely obsessed with the Norwegian woman, and since 1982 he has bombarded Heidi Schøne with terrorising phone calls, death threats, intimidating letters, and by turning up on her doorstep and harassing her friends.

The man has also sent to random individuals in Norway hundreds of letters containing serious sexual allegations and intimate claims about the Norwegian woman.

"I have begged, cried and threatened him to get him to leave me alone," said Heidi Schøne when VG spoke with her three years ago.

Ms Schøne and her family still have a secret address and an unlisted telephone number. Her post is sorted by the local police force, who so far this year have received more than 300 letters from the 40-year-old Englishman.

Forces himself on people

When Heidi Schøne was 18, she travelled to England to work as an au pair. While on a train, she met a man who was half Arabic. The man behaved strangely and was pushy, but she liked him and spoke to him in a friendly manner. Her life of hell began when she returned to Norway.

While she was staying in Bergen, the Englishman suddenly appeared on her doorstep. To begin with she let him in, but he gradually became extremely bothersome. He called her incessantly, sent her countless letters, and on one occasion he forced her to watch while he did obscene things.

After he had been rejected, he carved the words "fuck you" on a door with a knife. She moved to a secret address, but a postcard nevertheless appeared containing the words "Freddy's back" - taken from a horror film where the main character is called Freddy.

The case was previously investigated by the police force in Bergen. Three years ago, Ms Schøne reported the matter to the police in Drammen.

"It will be up to the public prosecutor to decide whether a request will be sent to the English authorities," says Dag Einar Lyngås, assistant chief of police.

Caption: HARASSED: The Englishman has sent 300 letters to Heidi Schøne so far this year.
Photo: VG

 

Erotic paranoia

Psychiatrists believe the threatening and lovesick Englishman may suffer from a case of extreme erotic paranoia.

This condition is a delusional disorder in which the individual is convinced that another person is in love with him or her.

Erotic paranoia most frequently affects women, particularly menopausal women. The disorder generally passes by itself after a few years.

People who suffer from erotic paranoia seldom act in an ill-willed manner, as is the case with the Englishman.