Garner and the stalker

A quite fascinating column by Duncan Garner about being approached by stalker Glenn Green:

His name is Glenn Green and police say he is the country’s most dangerous stalker.

Now it seems he’s interested in stalking me.

I had heard of Green (he also goes by other surnames: Carlionne, Goldberg, Holden and Colcord) and have read a bit about him.

He’s a nasty leach – a manipulative piece of work. So imagine my surprise when I received a hand-written letter from him in Mt Eden prison. …

Green says he wants me to tell his story. Yup, he’s another one of these wrongly maligned criminals apparently.

Green started his letter by saying: “You may recognise my name as over the years I have had some pretty bad press titled ‘STALKER’.

“I come to you as you seem to be pretty fair and not one-sided.”

He continues, “I have declined interviews but I think it is time to tell all and the truth behind the headlines.”

So he’s offering me his story but he’s in custody, so how on earth am I meant to tell it?

He wants me to make contact and suggests I come to see him in prison.

He promises me all sorts of scoops on serving police officers.

“I’ll give you the full story,” he says.

“It’s time to get the truth behind the stalker headlines out there because it’s not right.”

A female journalist would run 100 miles from this, but Garner thinks maybe he can just meet him and get a story, as Green has only stalked women:

He finishes his letter to me by saying, “I have done wrong but not what’s reported. If you want to talk, I’m . . . at Mt Eden.”

I must say when I read his letter he sounded reasonably convincing and articulate.

But as I asked a few people who had dealt with him they told me that’s exactly what he is like.

He convinces you at the start that he is normal – that everything is OK.

He even comes across as reasonably smart and credible.

I realised pretty quickly I was inside the mind of a serial stalker.

I was still fascinated. Given he has previously stalked women, perhaps I could contact him and get his story and move on.

But luckily he took advice:

No, said the experts. He won’t move on. He will think you’re his friend. He’ll never let go, they all warned.

He’ll target you and your family for as long as he can.

So I won’t be popping off to Mt Eden to make the introduction.

A very good call.