Police launch investigation after man falsely accused of being Baby Reindeer abuser
A police investigation has been launched after a man was falsely accused of being the real life Darrien in Baby Reindeer.
Ever since the show dropped on Netflix, some viewers have been trying to track down the true identities of characters Martha and Darrien.
Baby Reindeer is based on true events lived by comedian Richard Gadd, who ended up being relentlessly harassed by a stalker who is given the name 'Martha' in the Netflix show.
Advert
The show focuses on how it all unfolded, including everything that led up to Martha's obsession - and the alarming events that followed.
The pair first meet after Richard's character, Donny, offers Martha a cup of tea.
Soon, she begins bombarding him with increasingly-terrifying messages, all through the day and night.
In total, Martha sent 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.
But after watching the series, internet sleuths have been doing their best to try and work out the real identities of some of the show's characters, including Martha as well as Donny's abuser, Darrien.
Social media users have even wrongly accused a man named Sean Foley, who is an actor and director.
Following the accusations, Gadd issued a statement urging people not to go looking.
“Hi everyone, people I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show. Lots of love, Richard xx.”
Now, Foley himself has spoken out, explaining that he has involved the police due to 'defamatory, abusive and threatening posts' that have been sent his way.
He wrote on X: "Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me."
West Midlands Police told LADbible: "We're investigating after a man reported receiving threatening messages on social media.
"Enquiries are at an early stage and we are in the process of gathering information from the victim."
Baby Reindeer is available to watch on Netflix now.
Alternatively, if you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Topics: Baby Reindeer, TV and Film, Netflix
Lucy Devine