Can I Tell You a Secret? victims thank Netflix for 'giving them a voice'

In the documentary, both Abby and Lia discuss the extent to which they were stalked by Hardy and, eventually, how the police were able to arrest him.

"I think I have a bit of disassociation to the whole thing and I actually blocked the whole thing out of my brain," Abby said of her experience filming the documentary in a Q&A.

"I didn't realise until we had to do the day story, where you sit there and you have to talk through the whole thing.

"Even though I knew what had happened, and there was evidence, and I was seeing everything in front of me, and I knew the story because I lived it. I forgot bits happened and just kind of blanked it out."

As shown in the documentary, Hardy began stalking Abby via social media, which saw him pretend to be two women. He later told Abby's then-boyfriend she had cheated on him, which led to them splitting up.

Abby continued: "That was a really hard day for me, like reliving it and speaking about it, because you get all the same feelings when you speak about it and the stories and the feelings come in your head."

As for what it was like for Lia, she explained that she would become "upset" when filming, as it felt as though she was reliving the entire experience.

Read more:

• Where is Can I Tell You a Secret? cyber stalker Matthew Hardy now?
• Louis Theroux reveals what documentaries he's got in the works

"When I went to court for sentencing, I asked to go because I feel like that's [a] chapter closed," she said.

"So then re-filming it for the documentary, it was like I got all these emotions that I haven't felt for [all] this time. I'm now, like, reliving it. But I feel proud that we did it."

As Q&A host Sharon Gaffka gave thanks to both Abby and Lia for telling their stories, Abby said: "Well, thank you Netflix for giving us a voice!"

Can I Tell You a Secret is available to watch on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Looking for something else to watch? Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.

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