Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas has opened up about the terrifying ordeal she endured at the hands of a stalker, who targeted her and her family in a seven-year campaign
Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas has revealed how she feared for her life during a seven-year stalking ordeal, confessing: “I will never feel completely safe again.” The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 64, spoke candidly about her nightmare experience at the hands of Kyle Shaw, 37, who received a suspended 20-month jail sentence in April.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror about the enduring psychological effects, Shirley confessed: “I’m looking around and watching all the time…. and life shouldn’t have to be like that. That’s what he’s done to me and my family.”
In her forthcoming memoir Best Foot Forward, Shirley disclosed the full extent of Shaw’s harassment campaign for the first time – which included pursuing and confronting her elderly mother Audrey at the supermarket.
She penned: “I didn’t feel safe in my own home and had sleepless nights worrying about what he was going to do. Would he put a bomb through the letterbox? Or try to set the house on fire? I had smoke detectors installed everywhere. He’d shown he was prepared to follow a little old lady round the supermarket, what else was he capable of doing to frighten the living daylights out of my family.”
The terror campaign commenced when Shirley joined the Strictly judging panel as Head Judge for the programme’s 15th series in 2017, taking over from departing Len Goodman.
Shaw bombarded her social media accounts with messages falsely claiming to be the biological son of her deceased brother David, who tragically took his own life at 44 in 2003. Shirley and her team initially dismissed him as a nuisance, but the messages quickly escalated, becoming increasingly explicit.
“He was soon hounding me through every channel possible. Via Facebook Messenger, Twitter and Instagram, he was demanding a DNA test and accusing me of killing David,” she recounts.
One chilling message read: “‘Just a reminder, my dad is dead because of you, because you left him alone. He’s dead. You killed him. You murdered him. You did this. Why did you leave my dad to die?’After contacting the police, Shaw was warned not to contact her again. However, the warning fell on deaf ears.
She shares: “Not only did he continue to harass and attack me, but he also started bombarding other members of my family, including my elderly mother. He’d seek out my friends and post the most awful messages to them, using language I can’t even bring myself to repeat.
“In response to the relentless harassment, Shirley had to take extreme measures such as installing CCTV and an additional alarm system at her home. She completely stopped using public transport. The BBC also provided her with extra security both in and around the studio and during the Strictly tour.
The abuse consistently began around August, coinciding with the publicity for the upcoming series of the dance show. She reveals: “He’d told me to look over my shoulder and that he’d always be there. He posted a photograph of my house and car on social media with a message that read, ‘You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.
“When my debut novel came out in 2023, he sent me a deluge of messages threatening to turn up at one of the dates on the promotional tour. ‘I’ll be there, Shirley. I’ll be at the show. I’ll be everywhere, lurking in the wings’.
“What should have been a happy time in my life celebrating writing a book I was proud of, turned into an enormously distressing experience. “Shaw subsequently obtained her former partner Danny Taylor’s phone number and informed him how he knew their addresses, whilst detailing their recent activities.
She describes the “final straw” occurred when he “went to the extreme of following my mother around the supermarket in Liscard and confronted her, which was a horrifying experience for a woman in her eighties.
Consequently, she relocated her mum to her London residence. Despite maintaining regular communication with officers, Shirley endured a maddening ordeal.
She states: “Merseyside Police were helpful but the system makes it very difficult for charges to be brought, which leaves victims trapped. It’s as if you have to come to physical harm before the law steps in to protect you.
“All I could do was gather the correspondence and keep passing it on to the police. ” Finally, in December 2023, over six years after the initial message, Shaw was apprehended and subsequently charged with stalking.However, during the preliminary court hearings, Shaw pleaded not guilty.
She pens: “It looked like the case was headed for trial where I would have to give evidence,” adding, “The thought of that caused me huge anxiety. My mother would also have had to take the stand, as well as friends and family who were witnesses. “
Yet, in February 2025, he altered his plea to guilty and received a 20-month suspended sentence on April 1. He was further prohibited from contacting Shirley or any of her family members again. She writes: “I was satisfied that justice had been done – I had no interest in seeing the boy go to jail.
“He’s a very troubled person who needs help, not prison. The psychiatric report revealed a damaged person whose life had been blighted by mental illness, homelessness and drug abuse. I just hope he continues to get the support he needs to rehabilitate.”
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