It's a girl's worst nightmare; the scary ex that you regret ever going out with hurting you.
But in this case, Shana Rice went to the police to make formal complaints about her ex-boyfriend's behaviour, only to be charged with wasting their time. She was fined.
Six months after she went to the police for the first time, scared for her life, the nineteen-year-old was found in her bedroom in Portslade, East Sussex. Her throat had been cut six times. Someone had also attempted to start a fire in two places in the flat - perhaps in an attempt to cover up the murder.
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Her former boyfriend, twenty-seven-year old Michael Lane, is standing trial for her murder. He is pleading not guilty.
At her murder trial, the jury heard about how she claimed Lane had become "obsessed" with her after she got back with her old boyfriend. Last February, Shana told the police he was stalking her, the Independent reports. She claimed he hid outside her house, left her presents and left notes on her boyfriend's car saying she would cheat on him.
In March, she went to the police to say that Lane had assaulted her. He had grabbed her phone from her and pulled her by the head. He denied it and showed texts from her saying she wanted to be in a relationship with him.
She was charged with "having caused wasteful employment of police by making a false report". She hadn't told the police that Lane was an on-off boyfriend. She even got charged with a fine.
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In July, a year before she died, Lane allegedly stole her keys and broke into her house to watch her sleep. That's unbelievably terrifying. He was cautioned and told to stay away from her, but continued to call her, breathing heavily down the phone. She reportedly told the police, but they said it was low priority.
Lane, a tyre-fitter, put a tracking device on her car, so he could know where she was going all the time and told his friends that she had to pay for what she had done. He had not taken the split well. He also tried to bill her for all the dinners he had bought her.
The jury even heard a recorded phone call between Lane and Shana in which she confronts his "weird" behaviour.
He's heard saying: "I'm just not right in the head. Obviously something's not right, but I don't know what it is. I need to find out, or be locked up or something."
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She had told him he needed to get help.
Lane initially said he didn't know what had happened.
He's reportedly admitted lying to the police. There are taped interviews with Lane recorded on August 26, just after Shana died. When asked by an officer in an interrogation room: "What happened to Shana?" Lane replied: '"I don't know.
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"All I know is what I've been told here."
He then told the court that they had sex two days before she was murdered, according to the Independent. He was the one to discover her, as her front door was left open.
"I saw her slumped against the bed. She wasn't moving. I saw blood on the bed and blood on the floor," he said.
"She was in her dressing gown. I thought she was dead. I didn't know what to do."
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He fled the scene, hiding his trainers which were covered in blood. He told the court he was too panicked to check her vital signs, call an ambulance, or tell anyone about it. He admitted to having bought petrol because he wanted to kill himself because of depression following his grandfather's death.
He said he went home, told none of his family about the discovery, and "didn't want to get the blame".
Lane said he showered and went to get a lottery ticket checked, but noticed blood on his trainers.
The case in on-going.
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