‘It’s always going to haunt me’: Miss England finalist, 27, reveals she can ‘never recover’ after wannabe rapper, 39, stalked her for years
- Samantha Bumford, 27, from Poole, said she will ‘never recover’ from stalker
- Miss England finalist revealed the experience is ‘always going to haunt me’
- Jonathan Deal besieged beauty queen with unwanted messages on social media
- His infatuation culminated in him following her to the finals of Miss England
- Deal, who claims he was on BGT, was jailed twice in 2019 for harassing her
- Months ago, she said she no longer feels safe going out alone after spotting Deal
A Miss England finalist who was stalked by a wannabe rapper who claimed he was a Britain’s Got Talent contestant has revealed she will ‘never recover’ from his crimes.
Trainee school teacher Samantha Bumford, 27, was harassed by obsessed Jonathan Deal, 39, for years, after he launched a campaign against the model after ‘falling in love’ with her on Facebook.
He sent her a barrage of unwanted messages, repeatedly showed up uninvited to her shows, and also attempted to kiss her before being jailed for 23 weeks in February 2019 after pleading guilty to a charge of harassment.
He was released last year, with Samantha telling The Sun that she still struggles to live a normal life, saying: ‘I’m not scared any more, but he has taken away a large chunk of my life that I can never recover from – It’s always going to haunt me.’
Trainee school teacher Samantha Bumford, 27, who was stalked by a wannabe rapper who claimed he was a Britain’s Got Talent contestant has revealed she will ‘never recover’ from his crimes
Deal sent her a barrage of messages, repeatedly came to shows uninvited and also tried to kiss her before he was sentenced after pleading guilty to harassment
Earlier this year, Samantha said she was left too terrified to go out alone after she spotted the stalker walking down the street.
Samantha said she saw obsessed Jonathan Deal while she was driving after he was released from prison last year.
Ms Bumford told the Sun it was the first time she had seen him since his release from prison and she is now convinced he is stalking her again.
She said: ‘He was walking up the road, I was driving down it and we locked eyes. I was completely all over the place. That was the first time I went out on my own and he was there.
Deal became obsessed with Miss Bumford after she accepted his friend request on Facebook in 2018
‘I was telling people I was over it but I feel like I can never recover again now.
‘I’m scared because he’s not giving up. What is it going to take? When is this going to end?’
Deal, the wannabe popstar, who auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent, claimed that he ‘fell in love’ with Miss Bumford after she accepted his friend request on Facebook.
After his release in May last year, he was sentenced to a further 26 weeks after he breached a restraining order by sharing an advert of the show, which he knew she would attend.
In September, Samantha revealed the experience has left her too terrified ‘to go out alone’ after she spotted her BGT contestant stalker back on the streets following his release from jail
Ms Bumford spoke out last year, slamming the ‘ludicrous’ sentence and saying she feared he would stalk her again as soon as he was released.
Jonathan Deal’s crimes
Summer 2018 – Jonathan Deal, who had 19 previous convictions relating to harassment and stalking incidents, adds Samantha on Facebook. He goes on to besiege her with unwanted messages, sharing pictures of her and vowing to dedicate a Britain’s Got Talent audition song to her.
September 2018 – He tried to gatecrash a VIP tent Samantha was in at the Bournemouth Air Festival. He also posted a live blog on Facebook claiming he was in love with her.
Later that month, he turned up at the Miss England finals at Nottingham’s Kelham Hall, before telling people he was her boyfriend and trying to kiss her.
Late 2018 – Samantha reported Deal to the police and he was arrested for his harassment campaign.
February 2019 – Samantha testified against Deal in court and he was imprisoned for 23 weeks.
May 2019 – Deal was released from prison
July 2019 – Deal was jailed again for 26 weeks for breaching his restraining order
August 2019 – Deal is released from prison
August 2020 – Deal was spotted twice in Samantha’s area.
She reported the sightings to Dorset Police, who arrested Deal and released him under investigation.
The investigation is ongoing.
She said that it was only when Deal appeared in court that she realised he had 19 previous convictions for harassment and stalking women dating back to 2003.
She told the Sun: ‘I can’t go out on my own. I haven’t been able to attend events. I have no independence and people don’t see that.’
She added that she goes to bed every night wondering whether he is in the area and that she searches the house and double locks the doors before going to bed.
After accepting his friend request, Deal, whose stage name is JAYD, started responding and reacting to her photos and started attending her events.
In August 2018 he came to an event she had advertised on her timeline and posted a liveblog from it, in which he claimed to be ‘in love’ with Miss Bumford. She was not aware of this and spoke to Deal at the event, believing he was a fan.
Deal’s behaviour escalated and he made attempts to get into an exclusive tent the victim was in for the Bournemouth Air festival, would wait for hours to speak to her, set up live blogs attempting to find out where she was and bought her a necklace.
His infatuation culminated in him following her to the finals of Miss England in Nottingham where he tried to kiss her as she came off stage.
Ms Bumford said she was forced to shove him away and flee towards her family.
Feeling spurned, Deal later sent her a message claiming ‘you only did well in Miss England because the judges thought you were my girlfriend’.
The day after the Miss England event in Nottingham, Deal posted a photograph of Ms Bumford in a white wedding dress on his Facebook page.
Beneath the image he left a heart emoji and commented that he had ‘fallen in love’. He also included an emoji of an engagement ring.
Deal sent Miss Bumford numerous messages in the days after the finals and her father even attempted to intervene by asking Deal to leave his daughter alone.
Deal had also previously posted an image of himself, dressed in a black vest and shorts posing next to Ms Bumford at an event.
According to his Facebook account, he competed in season 13 of the X Factor with a picture posted of himself at the show’s auditions. There is no record of him having competed in Britain’s Got Talent.
Deal has 19 previous convictions for harassing and stalking women that date back to 2003. (Pictured: Miss Bumford leaves court following Deal’s hearing. He was sentenced to 23 weeks in jail in February and then, after breaching a restraining order, a further 26 weeks in May)
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