Netflix documentary Can I Tell You a Secret? explores the exploits of cyber stalker Matthew Hardy. Liza Williams, who created the well-received Netflix documentary Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare, also directed Can I Tell You a Secret?
According to Tudum by Netflix, Matthew Hardy stalked more than 62 women for almost a decade. He also made numerous fake accounts to terrorize his victims. His modus operandi involved spreading lies. Some of these lies even had mentions of the victim’s indecent relationships with their bosses or stepfathers. Matthew also hacked his prey’s social media accounts, posed as the victim, and had explicit conversations with many people. These conversations also involved sending stolen intimate photos.
For security purposes, his victims would reportedly keep baseball bats and katanas beside them. Many lost job opportunities, friends, and relationships. Furthermore, some even suffered from anxiety and depression and depended on medication.
In Can I Tell You a Secret?, three brave victims—Zoe Jade Hallam, Abby Furness, and Lia Marie Hambly—explain how Hardy terrorized them in different ways. They stated that each of their stories began the same way and then went on to escalate unexpectedly.
According to IMDb, the synopsis of In Can I Tell You a Secret? reads, “Three women’s lives are changed forever when a prolific stalker infiltrates their social media accounts. And they’re only a fraction of his many victims.”
Was Matthew Hardy’s sentence reduced?
For his crimes, the court originally sentenced Matthew Hardy to nine years in prison. However, The Guardian reported that three judges sitting in the court of appeal believed that this punishment was too long. Hardy suffered from a mental disorder called Asperger syndrome.
In court, Matthew’s lawyer, Sara Haque, said that her client’s condition was ignored when he was originally sentenced. She stated, “When one considers the developmental disorder of the appellant, the sentence is manifestly excessive.”
In response, one of three judges hearing the appeal, Mrs. Justice McGowan stated, “The appellant’s medical condition – he suffered from Asperger’s and autism – was clear and well documented.” She continued, “It led to him suffering from a lack of empathy, such that he was not always able to understand the impact that his behaviour would have on others. The learned judge rightly reduced the term that he had in mind by 25% to allow for that mental disorder.”
In the aforementioned documentary, Lia Marie Hambly, one of Hardy’s victims, narrates her experience with cyberstalking from her point of view. Hardy would repeatedly call her and send sexual messages to people she was familiar with by posing as her. She stated, “You’d block one account and then he’d make another one. Or then he wouldn’t be contacting me, he’d be contacting a family friend, their boyfriend or their husband.”
She further stated, “I think that will stay forever. I don’t think that will ever go away. Even when I watched the documentary, it still makes me emotional. It brings back that feeling of: why have you done this to me?”
Due to Matthew Hardy’s mental disorder, the court reduced his sentence from nine years to eight years.
