THE real-life inspiration for Baby Reindeer’s stalker character ‘Martha’ claims she is “suing Netflix for £11million” over “serious false allegations on film.”
Fiona Harvey has said on social media she is legally pursuing the streaming service for “defamation, misinformation and personal damages inflicted.”
Posting to her account, Harvey said: “I am suing Netflix For 11 million pounds.
“For defamation, misinformation and personal damages inflicted.
“Netflix and gadd both made serious false allegations on film and in Parliament.”
She posted again that she would “be updating you all soon. In regards to the legal case.”
The Scots law graduate, 58, had been using Facebook to respond to claims made in the gritty ‘real-life’ ordeal suffered by writer Richard Gadd, 35, who changed his own name in the show.
The then-struggling comic, who goes by the name of Donny in Baby Reindeer, hands fictional character Martha – played by Jessica Manning – a cup of tea before she becomes sinisterly obsessed with him.
The series claims she bombarded Gadd’s barman character with more than 41,000 emails, hundreds of tweets and hours of voicemails over an alleged four year campaign of terror.
Gadd claimed he went to great lengths to conceal the identity of the woman who stalked him in real life and has begged fans not to search for her.
Online sleuths later tracked down Harvey, a Scots woman that moved to London, and linked her similarities to Martha, played by Gunning, 38, by similarities in her social media usage.
Fiona, from Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, says she met Gadd years ago when he was a bartender at The Hawley Arms in London‘s Camden.
Speaking to Piers Morgan last week, Fiona, 58, accused Gadd of “making money out of untrue facts” – and denied she’d ever watched Baby Reindeer.
Fiona has described Gadd’s account as a “work of fiction” and “hyperbole”.
The programme, which had 13.3 million viewers tuning in during its first week, depicts ‘Martha’ being jailed after accepting guilt for stalking.
But lawyer Chris Daw KC told Mirror: “Netflix has sold Baby Reindeer as a ‘true story’… ‘Martha’ was portrayed as a convicted stalker, who was sent to prison for serious crimes.
“She states that she has never been convicted of any crime and has never been to prison.
“If that turns out to be true, Netflix and Richard Gadd will have a very big legal problem.”
Mr Daw had previously defended Giggs when he was cleared last year over claims he assaulted his ex-girlfriend and her sister.
It comes as the Scottish Sun revealed in a World Exclusive that Ms Harvey bombarded Sir Keir Starmer with hundreds of emails, including taunts about his “ugly” wife.
Fiona Harvey told the Labour leader he was in a “non-job ”, was a “stupid little boy” and a “useless barrister”.
She warned Sir Keir she would target him with complaints to standards watchdogs, telling him: “Your life won’t be worth living.”
The emails – from two separate email addresses – were among hundreds forwarded on by Ms Harvey to The Scottish Sun over a period of several years.
Like those seen in the show, all are in a trademark style, littered with punctuation and spelling mistakes, with few full stops and a line space between each sentence.
All were signed off “Sent from my iPhone” — echoing Martha, who it turns out in the show doesn’t have an iPhone.
Netflix has been contacted for a response.