Baby Reindeer’s real-life Martha is contemplating legal action over the portrayal of her as a frightening stalker in the show.
Scots lawyer Fiona Harvey – who the Record had previously opted not to name or picture – now wishes for everyone to be aware of her experiences since her identity became public following the success of the Netflix series.
Last night, Harvey stated: “You have my authority to name me in the Daily Record.
“I give you my permission to name me because people need to know what is happening.”
In the popular series, the character based on Harvey, 58, is depicted as a stalker who served four-and-a-half years in jail before encountering Fifer comedian Richard Gadd.
The streaming channel’s most-watched show also depicts Martha being imprisoned for nine months due to the ordeal experienced by Donny, a fictionalized version of Gadd.
Speaking exclusively to the Record, Harvey said: “I haven’t been to prison. I don’t understand where the four-and-a-half years and nine months come from.
“None of this occurred. It’s all nonsense.”
Baby Reindeer reveals how Gadd’s alleged stalker became fixated on him. English actress Jessica Gunning, 38, plays a Scottish woman in her 40s named Martha Scott who resides in Camden.
Harvey is now contemplating legal action against both the comedian and Netflix.
She stated: “Gadd needs to prove I went to jail, which simply didn’t happen. I’ve never been incarcerated. That is glaringly obvious.
“Police showing up at your door would be the first step, then you’d be charged, then you would stand trial. Then you’d be fined or imprisoned.
“This is all fabricated and exaggerated. There are no restraining orders, injunctions, or interdicts anywhere. There’s just no way. I haven’t had the police at my door regarding any of these matters.
“It’s all nonsense. I don’t have any money, but I’m a perfectly capable lawyer, so I will represent myself.”
Baby Reindeer is produced by Clerkenwell Films, a company owned by BBC Studios. It has become a global sensation. Horror writer Stephen King is a fan, describing Martha as “equal” to Annie Wilkes from his 1987 bestseller Misery.
In the show, Gadd, 34, portrays a fictionalized version of himself named Donny Dunn. Throughout his disturbing three-year ordeal, Martha sends him more than 40,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, and 106 pages of letters. Netflix has confirmed that the emails Donny receives in the show are the “real emails” he received from his stalker – all ending with “sent from my iPhone”, despite Martha not owning one.
Rory Lynch, a lawyer specializing in defamation and privacy at Gateley Legal, believes Harvey may have grounds to sue for defamation because people discovered her identity using a method known as “jigsaw identification”.
Internet sleuths took to social media and found clues that revealed her identity, including references to a Baby Reindeer bar scene in which Martha asks for help hanging her curtains, only to face a barrage of innuendo.
The sleuths identified a social media post sent on September 23, 2014, in which Harvey tweeted, “@MrRichardGadd my curtains need hung badly.”
Harvey, who holds a law degree from Aberdeen University, would need to prove that the allegations made in the show are both untrue and have caused her serious harm.
Lynch said: “The only thing I can presume is that when Clerkenwell Films, the BBC, and Netflix reviewed it with their legal team, they believed they could rely on the fact that it is a drama. It’s not meant to be a factual documentary.
“So although Netflix claimed it’s a true story, essentially it’s a dramatization of a true story.
“But I do think that Richard Gadd could have been a bit more careful in altering many of the scenes to be more fictional, while also concealing the identity of the people it was based on.”
Early in the series, Donny discovers that Martha has been incarcerated after accusing a former employer and the employer’s husband of abusing their deaf child.
Over two decades ago, Scots lawyer Laura Wray took legal action over similar allegations Harvey made against Laura and her husband, the late Labour MP Jimmy Wray.
Laura stated: “We obtained an interim interdict. I don’t think she responded, and I don’t think there was a full hearing afterward because it did the trick in preventing her from coming near me.
“It was a long time ago, and I haven’t heard from her since.
“I’ve now watched the Netflix show, and it’s quite eerie, to say the least.”
Harvey says she is living in fear as a result of the show.
She expressed: “Gadd and Netflix have presented this as a true story, and now some little man in North Carolina sending me death threats believes it’s a true story.
“But I think you’d have to be really foolish to believe it’s true.”
Last week, The Record conducted two world-exclusive interviews with Harvey.
We decided not to name her as a duty of care. However, other newspapers subsequently named her without her permission.
She has widely acknowledged that she is the real-life Martha portrayed in the Netflix show, including multiple posts on her own Facebook profile.
Last night, Harvey stated: “Any semblance of a normal life I had is gone.
“It’s open season on me, and this is my chance to speak out.
“Would it have been better if I spoke to nobody? No, I don’t think so. That is why I have also refuted the Laura Wray allegations on Facebook and will be making a major TV appearance soon so everyone may as well know who I am, and at least they’ll hear the truth.
“I think we can easily prove I’m not a career criminal by saying I’ve not been to prison.
“I have no criminal convictions of any description.”
Harvey has not received payment from the Daily Record.
