'He stalked me, but I was the one arrested'

'He stalked me, but I was the one arrested' Jodie Morrow had just finished an early shift at her cafe job in December 2020 when she noticed missed calls from the police on her phone.

She knew this would have something to do with Ezra Garfield, the man who she told police had been plaguing her with messages on social media after they briefly dated.

For three months beforehand, the Ulster University student had raised concerns about Garfield and, despite her repeated contact with officers, he had not been arrested.

But an hour later it was now Jodie in the back of a police car, tearfully facing a journey to custody, having been arrested over false allegations that she was the one harassing him.

More than five years later, Garfield was eventually jailed after pleading guilty to harassment and perverting the course of justice, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland has acknowledged "shortcomings" in how the case was handled.

'He just completely switched' The 19-year-old was studying in Belfast in March 2020 when she matched with Garfield, who at the time was known as Riagain Grainger, on a popular dating app.

A few months later the pair went on a handful of "lovely, wholesome" dates.

"It was very normal initially… He seemed absolutely lovely at the start," she told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"He never had a single red flag at all. "

But Jodie felt "the spark wasn't there" and she was planning to let him down gently. When she told him she did not want to see him again, she said "he just completely switched".

Jodie was then bombarded with missed calls and messages from two numbers purporting to be Garfield's mother and father, but she was sure he was behind it all.

In September 2020 she reported the harassment to the police.

The messages continued to come.

She was added to Instagram group chats by people who said they were his friends.

"I got sent a picture of him with what I was told was my name carved into his chest," she added.

"You don't know how to process that at all, it was all a blur.

"I kept thinking if I keep going to the police… It'll stop. " Jodie made further police statements, as well as putting in a complaint with Ulster University, where the Trillick, County Tyrone, man had enrolled after meeting her.

Fake calls and messages In December 2020, Garfield also went to the police claiming that Jodie was, in fact, the one harassing him.

He had faked phone calls and threatening Instagram messages from her, but refused to hand his phone over to police.

"It wasn't until they put me in the car and were explaining to me my rights that I realised I was getting arrested and it sort of all hit me," she said.

"I was just so frustrated… I just can't believe they're taking his word on this. "

Garfield had yet to be arrested, but Jodie had been searched, fingerprinted, placed in a cell and, after interview, was released on bail.

Her phone was seized for three months until tests showed Garfield had generated the calls from an app.

In February 2022, Garfield - brought to trial under his previous name, Riagain Grainger - was jailed for two-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to a charge of stalking involving serious alarm and distress.

The court heard he had stalked and bombarded a 21-year-old woman with messages in 2019 after meeting when the pair studied together in Manchester.

Jodie had to then wait for her case to be heard, and in February of this year she was in court to see the 25-year-old jailed for 19 months, with a further 19 months on supervised licence on his release from prison.

Jodie said the harassment was distressing, but it was the police process that made her ordeal worse.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said it was a "complex investigation" and officers had "acted in good faith, and on the information available to them at the time".

"It became clear that Garfield had intended to portray himself as a victim to make the real victim in this case look like an offender. "

He said officers have acknowledged the "shortcomings" in how Jodie's case was handled.

"Throughout this case investigators worked with a number of police services across the UK in order to locate Garfield and bring him to justice before court," he added. Following a review, Jodie has agreed to work with the PSNI to improve its systems and practices. 'Makes you feel isolated' Jodie also said she feels let down by Ulster University and how they dealt with her complaint about Garfield's harassment. "In the end he got a slap on the wrist," she said. "There's always an unconscious layer of it there. "It makes you feel quite isolated. He deliberately made it all quite disorienting. "No one should ever feel like they're the problem for being wrapped up in something like this, because of someone else. " If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line