Lily Allen has accused police of trying to use their exclusive knowledge of her new romantic relationship to silence her stalker case.
The pop star has claimed police “don’t do the work” but take the credit for convictions, and that officers said her stalker was no threat despite his stated intention to stab her.
After years of obsessively following her, Alex Gray broke into Allen’s home in 2015 while she and her children were inside sleeping, leading to his conviction and detention under the Mental Health Act.
The mother-of-two has said she was in bed with her then-new boyfriend MC Meridian Dan when the stalker burst into her London home.
Allen has claimed that Metropolitan Police officers used the fact that her new relationship – begun soon after her separation from husband Sam Cooper – was not public knowledge to try and “get rid” of the high-profile stalker case.
Speaking at a Women Of The World (WOW) event in London, the singer said that Met may have wanted to keep her case quiet because she was famous.
Allen said officers suggested Gray, who was convicted in 2016, was “probably just a drunk person that walked in off the streets” and into the bedroom she was sharing with her new partner.
Speaking of her subsequent experiences with police, Allen said: “That was not public knowledge, and I still think that the police used that against me: ‘She won’t want the public to know that she has got a new boyfriend. We can kind of get rid of this story. She won’t want people to think of her like that.’
@lilyallen bringing beautiful painful honesty #MyThoughtsExactly to #WOWLDN pic.twitter.com/JF9DFpVKjX
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“I don’t know if it’s because I’m a well-known person and they don’t want it to be talked about in this way, because it’s such a f****** issue clearly.”
Allen has further claimed that a police interview was halted during the investigation despite Gray allegedly saying he wanted to stab the star, with officers stating he was not a threat.
She said: “He said he wanted to put a knife through my face. She (a police officer) stopped the interview. She said that ‘I don’t think he poses a threat to you. We should go for burglary’.”
Allen added on the police response to her case: “They will take the credit, but they don’t do the work, they just don’t.”
The singer has since split from Meridian Dan.
A spokesman for the Met said later: “The victim raised concerns with police action in 2016 relating to allegations of stalking, which were reviewed at the time by the Met’s Serious Case Review Group.
“The victim and their representatives were regularly updated by the Met in regard to the review, which found the Met’s investigation to be satisfactory and that it took into account the appropriate levels of victim care, risk assessment, management and updates to the victim.
“The investigation resulted in a successful prosecution.”
Senior officers also maintained regular contact with the victim to check on their welfare and listen to any concerns, the Met said.