Thug threatened to rape co-worker and broke into her house armed with condoms in obsessive rage after she rejected his advances when he became infatuated with her – despite only meeting three times

A woman has recounted her horrific ordeal after an obsessed co-worker stalked her, broke into her house carrying seven extra lube condoms in his trousers, and even threatened to rape her and ‘blow off her boyfriend’s head’.

Grace Smith, 31, ‘feared for her life’ and started practicing jiu jitsu for self defense after for months being barraged by abusive messages from Karl Chads, 42, who began threatening her after she rejected his advances.

The bid-writer from London opened up about feeling unsafe in her own home during his campaign of terror.

In June 2024, Chads was jailed for 13 years for stalking with fear of violence as well as burglary, criminal damage and trespassing with the intent to commit a relevant sexual offence. The judge labelled him as ‘dangerous’.

Grace first met her stalker in October 2022, when Chads, then 40, joined her workplace. 

She thought he was ‘a bit of an oddball’ and they occasionally conversed during Microsoft Teams meetings.

‘He had a robotic demeanour and there was something off about him,’ Grace explained.

‘I joked to a colleague that he was probably a serial killer.’

She soon noticed that Chads ‘always had something to say’ and would often interrupt female colleagues. 

Seven months on, in May 2023, they both attended a work meeting in Birmingham and Grace noted that he was recounting what appeared to be ‘bizarre’ lies as they boarded the same train back to London and made small talk.

‘For the next hour and a half, we sat together,’ she explained. ‘Bizarrely he bragged about being upper-class, telling me he bought his suits from Saville Row.

‘Then he talked about winning a boxing match years earlier. But when I pressed him, he fumbled to answer with any detail.

‘I suspected it was all lies.’

Two months later – at a work team building day – Grace noticed Chads staring at her for long periods of time.

In October 2023, the team were awarded afternoon tea at The Ritz for winning a contract, and the topic of dating apps came up.

‘I explained to colleagues that’s was how I met my boyfriend, Daryl,’ Grace said. ‘I noticed Karl’s face drop. He seemed disappointed.’

Then, the following week, Chads asked for her personal number to keep in touch while he was on a training course, which she sent across.

Two days later, Chads confessed he had feelings for her.

Grace ‘wanted to let him down gently’ so explained that while she was flattered, she was in a relationship.

‘With that, I received a barrage of insults,’ she revealed, with Chads going on to call her a ‘below-stairs type’ and accusing her of ‘leading him on’.

Grace phoned her boyfriend, 34, for advice and he assured her it would soon blow over – but by the next morning Chads posted a private chat him and Grace had on a shared work platform.

Mortified, she made a complaint to her manager, sending her screenshots of his abusive messages.

Meanwhile, Chads continued to bombard Grace with calls and texts.

Horrified Grace contacted the police and an officer came to take her statement, but was told that all they could do was charge him with malicious communications if he failed to cease contact.

Chads’ campaign of abuse didn’t end – his messages continued even when she flew to Prague to attend her cousin’s wedding. 

He even made a defamatory post on LinkedIn, trying to sabotage her job.

‘Back home, terrified for my safety, Daryl moved in,’ Grace revealed.

‘Together we visited the police station and reported all Karl’s messages. An officer confirmed they’d charge him.’

Soon after, Grace discovered Chads had resigned from her workplace.

But chillingly, things only escalated as the following week a parcel from her stalker arrived at her house. 

Inside was a Alexander McQueen purse, alongside a handwritten note. It read: ‘I thought we had the potential to develop into a friendship and relationship one day.’

‘I was terrified he knew my address,’ she admitted. ‘Worried he’d kidnap me.’ 

That night, she reported it to the police. Hours later, Chads left her a voicemail, begging her to talk to him.

It took the police more than a week to collect the evidence and Chads still hadn’t been arrested.

An unnerved Grace put in safety measures, such as installing a doorbell camera to her home and practicing martial arts with Daryl. 

The horror of the situation was taking its toll on her – Grace was so stressed that her hair started falling out.

In December that year, she was horrified once again after a second parcel from Chads was delivered to her home.

This time, it was a bouquet of red roses with another rambling letter claiming ‘we both know we had chemistry between us’.

Grace again reported him to officers, but two weeks later Chads called on a withheld number. She screamed at him to leave her alone, but after repeated rings, Daryl answered.

‘I pressed record on my phone and on speaker, I heard Karl say “I’m a gangster, I’ll rape her in front of you and blow your head off”,’ she recalled.

‘Fearing for our lives, we fled to Daryl’s and begged the police for help.’

Over the next hour, Chads phoned over forty times. In eight voicemails, he threatened to kill Grace and Daryl, and rape Grace again. At 10pm, the police called to inform them Chads had broken into her house.

On their ring door cam Chads can be seen kicking in the door, before breaking in via the bathroom window.

During the ransacking, he stole Grace’s teenage journal.

Terrifyingly, just hours later at 3am, he tried to break in again.

In real time, Grace witnessed it on camera and called 999 – police arrested Chads at the scene.

Her home was absolutely ransacked. She arrived to ‘smashed up pipes, broken windows’. Grace’s clothes were ‘ripped up and strewn across the garden’.

In June 2024, Grace give evidence against Chads on her birthday. During the trial, the court showed items found on Chads.

In a backpack, he had two glasses, a bottle of wine and a fire key. Disgustingly, they found seven extra lube condoms in his trousers.

The jury found Karl Chads, guilty of stalking with fear of violence against Grace and Daryl – as well as burglary, criminal damage and trespassing with the intent to commit a relevant sexual offence.

At Wood Green Crown Court, the judge labelled Chads ‘dangerous’ and jailed him for 13 years, handing him an indefinite restraining order.

‘At his sentencing, I faced him down,’ Grace said. ‘Bravely read my impact statement and took back control.

‘Now I want to encourage other survivors of stalking to collate evidence, keep records. Listen to your gut.

‘In the end, I was forced to take charge and fight for justice. And I won.’

She added: ‘During Karl’s campaign of harassment I felt unsafe and feared for my life. Terrified he’d kidnap and rape me.

‘Knowing he’s now behind bars gives me some comfort. Thankfully he’s off the streets, unable to harm anyone else.’