A lawyer has shared an image he claims proves Baby Reindeer’s ‘real life Martha’ has no criminal convictions.
Fiona Harvey claims the character Martha in the recent hit Netflix series was based on her and yesterday (6 June), she filed a lawsuit in the US against the streaming site.
Filed in a California court, it argues ‘brutal lies’ were told about Harvey in the show created by comedian Richard Gadd, which is based off his own real-life experiences with a female stalker.
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The woman is seeking damages of a whopping $170 million (£132 million) as she alleges ‘defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence and violations of Harvey’s right of publicity’.
The lawsuit claims that the statement ‘this is a true story’ from Baby Reindeer is ‘a lie’ told by both Netflix and Gadd ‘out of greed and lust for fame’.
After the shows major popularity, viewers tried to track down the ‘real Martha’ – despite Gadd pleading for them not to – and identified Harvey. She then went on to appear in a controversial interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
According to the new lawsuit, one of the ‘lies’ told about her in the show is that she is ‘a twice convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison’.
The Roth Law Firm has shared with LADbible the exhibit which it says proves Harvey has no convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings.
This includes the first page of a DBS Basic Certificate for Harvey, with the DBS ID Number, her date of birth and place of birth redacted.
Under the section ‘Police Records of Convictions, Cautions, Reprimands and Warnings’ it reads: “NONE RECORDED.”
This image included in the lawsuit does not show the certificate in full, with the Certificate Number and Date of Issue not included.
A second image shows page two of three of a ClearCheck ‘Background check report’ which is ‘not a certificate issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service’ (DBS).
This is again for Harvey and under ‘Report Summary’ at the bottom of the page, it lists convictions with ‘none recorded’.
Richard Roth from The Roth Law Firm told LADbible in a statement: “The Complaint is self-explanatory. Netflix destroyed a woman, setting forth numerous ‘true facts’ that are fabricated.
“And also claiming she was a two-time convicted felon! It never contacted her. It never checked the facts. It never made any effort to understand the truth of its ‘true story!’ Its conduct is reprehensible.”
LADbible has contacted Netflix and Gadd’s reps for comment.
Topics: Baby Reindeer, Netflix, TV and Film
Jess Battison