Who Are You?: Part 3 of 3: With one click she found her perfect man. And he found his perfect victim. A true story of the ultimate deception.. Megan Henley

it’s even happened, replied Sandra, referring to the alleged overdose. I’m exhausted with the whole drama.

      ‘Someone’ else came on to say they’d booked the team for a gig in the past and they had turned up. Sandra pointed out that she had been there, only Vic turned up and, if this person remembered what had really happened, Vic was ‘a bit shit’! Others joined in to say that all the video clips on the page were dead ends, that they had contacted the Charities Commission and been told there was no such organisation, that images were photoshopped or false. It was all blowing up in his face.

      All that was left was for Vic to try and hold on to some of his lies by using his other identities. As Willow, he contacted a woman called Debbie Marshall, who then got in touch with me. She had been a friend of Vic’s but, like many other people, had disowned him when all the lies started to surface. She told me that shortly after the suicide report on the Hippy69 page, she received a friend request from his (imaginary) niece Willow. A lot of people had been left confused about what had happened to Vic, including Debbie.

      Hi Willow, she replied to the friend request (which was always his favourite way of reeling people in), I’m a friend of Vic’s. Would be grateful for any news on him please? Some people are saying it’s all a hoax! Whatever has happened? I hope he’s alright.

      Vic couldn’t resist replying to that. As Willow, he responded almost immediately, staying in character, with spelling and grammar mistakes throughout:

       Why people say that? There sick. Not hoax. Am in Bolivia so news not comin fast. I connect with you when I no more.

      The next day, there was a follow-up, still in character:

       Yes i now hear my unkel take hevy overdose but he ok for now. Thay put him in asylum for his safety, i hope to talk wit him latar if he is feelin ok thank you my unkel get constant help for is mental health were he live he take many drugs 4 voices he hears etc sumtimes 4 him it is 2 much and he wil do something very stupid like now so the people who say it hoax thay are all wrong they not know what mi unkel has gone through they should just be silent thank you I had to start new fb because my family hak old one it all look very diferent now – Willow

      According to Debbie, several other people were friend requested by Willow too while all this was happening. I expect the purpose of this was to try and add some credibility to his latest story. He often altered his style of writing and spelling for the different characters that he created. Shortly after these messages, the Willow profile disappeared from Facebook completely, but it had given Debbie an opportunity to get in touch with me and she told me that she had been in touch with Vic when he had kidnapped Lily. His version of events – and presumably what he told a lot of people – was that he only had her for a couple of hours, not from Tuesday until Friday night. His version had been completely different:

       From what I remember, he said he took her to the park and was supposed to meet you later at 6pm or something. You were late turning up to meet her and then you reported her missing. He said he took her to the police station and waited there for you to turn up and you were apparently late there too.

      I told Debbie what had really gone on:

       I was supposed to get her back at midday, then that morning he hacked my Facebook and advertised me as a hooker all over my profile, and sent me loads of abusive texts. When I went to where he was staying, he’d already done one. I knew he had no intention of giving her back so I called the police straight away. He phoned me and texted me loads, threatening to kill me, and just giving me and the police the run around all day about when he would give her back. Eventually he said he would be at The Grey Lady pub at 6pm so I went up there with the police and he wasn’t there, then the next day, same bullshit all day long giving me loads of abuse/lies on the text and wouldn’t commit to meeting me anywhere, kept fobbing the police off too. Then eventually he said he would meet me at a service station at 7pm so I drove all the way there and guess what? No Vic, so I phoned the police again. They phoned him and he said he was going to bring her the next day so I had to drive home without my baby.

      Debbie didn’t seem surprised by what he had done, saying: Yes, he told me a lot about you, saying you were a whore and you had men coming round all the time when kids were there! I didn’t believe that, just put it down to him being jealous you weren’t together any more. You must have gone through hell. He told me it was his sister hacking your account most of the time – was that a lie too? Does he have parental rights?

      It always came back to that. And the answer was always the same – yes, as it stood, he did. He was Lily’s father, he was named on the birth certificate, albeit in a made-up name; there was no disputing any of that. I wondered if I had a get-out clause in the fact that he hadn’t used his real name – but the Registry Office said that, as long as he used the name he had been known as during that time, he hadn’t done anything wrong. The fact was, he had rights, and that chilled me to the bone. I told Debbie as much – and also that Kat didn’t exist.

      Debbie told me that the last thing Vic had said to her was I fucked up big time. That was the understatement of his life. He had lost his chance – he could have had a normal life, he could even have got out of all the lies. He could have, at some point, said that it was all over, his family weren’t going to bother him again, so let’s concentrate on the kids. His need for attention worried me so much – all I wanted was a safe life for my kids, a father who loved them, a happy environment. It all seemed so unlikely, something that would never happen now – but I’d still fight. I’d fight with every part of me for my girls.

Chapter 13