A dad whose daughter was murdered in the North East eight years ago has issued a desperate plea for victims of stalking to “seek help” before it’s too late.

Alice Ruggles, 24, was tragically killed in her home in Gateshead in October 2016 by her ex-partner Trimaan Dhillon from Scotland, who was known as Harry.

Alice, originally from Leicestershire, was in a relationship with Mr Dhillon for a number of months before he began to bombard her with threatening messages and appeared at her property several times after they broke up.

The Northern Echo: Alice Ruggles.Alice Ruggles.

In 2017, Dhillon was sentenced to life behind bars for Alice’s murder and her family soon after set up the Alice Ruggles Trust with the goal of ending stalking for good.

Now eight years on, trained PCSOs from Durham Constabulary will deliver assemblies provided by Alice’s Trust to schools across County Durham and Darlington to teach young people about stalking.

The “preventative” education, which has already begun across the county, will inform young people on the signs of stalking, how to report it and what they can do if they suspect a friend is a victim.

Speaking at the launch at Durham’s police headquarters today (February 21), Alice’s dad Clive Ruggles paid tribute to his daughter who “lit up the room” wherever she went.

“She was open, and always full of fun. If you were feeling down, she would always know and come out with a little joke to make you feel better”, said Mr Ruggles.

“Alice would always say the silliest things, if she was here now, she would be laughing at the things I was doing wrong. That was her all over – I have so many anecdotes about her.”

The Northern Echo: Victoria Charleston, Clive Ruggles and Joy Allen PCC at the launch of the Alice Ruggle Trust Assemblies Project at Durham Police HQ.Victoria Charleston, Clive Ruggles and Joy Allen PCC at the launch of the Alice Ruggle Trust Assemblies Project at Durham Police HQ. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

Mr Ruggles added: “Today we’re here in Durham to kick off a very important new project for the Alice Ruggles Trust.

“It’s been more than seven years since we lost Alice, and what we’ve always tried to do with the trust is to try and prevent what happened to her happen to other people.

“There is a need to raise public awareness because people like Alice don’t go to the police soon enough, and we think we can improve that by making people understand how serious stalking is.”

Mr Ruggles went on to say the trust aims to “change the mindset of a generation” as the training begins to be rolled out across schools in the form of assemblies.

Whilst the project was drawn up and discussed with Durham Constabulary in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic brought it to a standstill, and it is only now ready to go ahead.

Mr Ruggles added: “What is now going to happen is thanks to the force and the PCC is that we are going to visit every school in County Durham and deliver these assemblies.

“Our aim then is to roll this out in the North East and then across the whole of the UK.”

The Northern Echo: Joy Allen PCC and Clive Ruggles at the launch of the Alice Ruggle Trust Assemblies Project at Durham Police HQ.Joy Allen PCC and Clive Ruggles at the launch of the Alice Ruggle Trust Assemblies Project at Durham Police HQ. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

In a heartfelt plea, Mr Ruggles urged young people to come forward if they are on the end of stalking behaviour to speak out.

“I have two messages. First – know that it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself”, he said.

“Secondly – seek help. If something feels wrong, then it probably is. Seek help as soon as you can, and your first port of all should always be the police but there is a national stalking helpline with advocates who can help you.”

Also speaking at the announcement, Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen praised the “really exciting” project.

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She said: “Alice Ruggles’ family have always been so determined that there should be a zero tolerance to stalking, and they want to prevent it altogether.

“These assemblies will reach schools across the whole county and get the message out to young people, telling them what stalking is, what they need to do and how serious it is.”

“We need to educate our young people about stalking and get that message out - I really welcome it. It’s an initiative, it’s innovative and we hope if it works, we can roll it out across England and Wales.”