Victim of vile Sheffield stalker turned detective to bring end to years of sick sexual calls

For years, the females Steven Turner stalked lived in fear.

They feared he would never be stopped, that the persistent sexual phone calls he made to them on a withheld number would continue indefinitely; and that the behaviour of the unknown - as he was then - man responsible for the calls could escalate to serious violence, or even rape.

Not only did Turner, aged 49, of Manor Park Crescent, Manor, commit a sex act while making the disturbing calls, but he would also tell his victims that he knew what they were wearing, with a terrifying degree of accuracy.

Turner's niece, Kristen Kime, was just 14 or 15-years-old when she first started receiving the calls. It was common for people in her year at school to make 'prank' phone calls to each other, says Kristen, but the ones made by Turner always 'stood out'.

"It was the same person all the time, they would call late at night. They would ring, I would answer and because they were whispering, I would put the phone down because I didn't want to hear it," said Kristen, now aged 30.

She added: "It was sexual stuff, absolutely vile stuff, as though he was m**********g down the phone. It was horrible, it was scary because obviously I didn't know who it was."

Like Kristen, Karen Smith started receiving the calls around 15 years ago. She, too, would receive them late at night, mostly at weekends.

"He would say he was outside my house, that he was watching me," said Karen, adding: "He would start late at night, and they would go on to the early hours of the morning, 3 or 4am...at one point he would ring every night. I'd be in bed, and he'd start ringing."

"He would say he knew what I had on...it was really scary. He would be m**********g, heavy breathing, saying what he wanted to do to me."

Turner would always speak in a whisper during the phone calls, perhaps in an attempt to disguise his voice. And while Turner's victims were unable to trace his identity for a frustrating number of years, it was always clear to Kristen and Karen that he had a disconcerting amount of information about them, the places they visited, and the people they spent time with.

Kristen first met Turner when she was around five and he entered into a relationship with her aunt; and she both thought of, and referred to him, as her 'uncle'.

She had no way of knowing the uncle she regularly spent time with would go on to stalk her, and abuse their family connection to exert the personal information he had over her, as part of a twisted, and seemingly sexually-motivated, power trip.

"We were so close, we'd go to family parties all the time. I'd chat to him, and he was the one doing the calls and scaring me. I'm still shocked it was my uncle, it's a hard thing to process because it's family," she said.

Kristen soon noticed a pattern in the timing of the phone calls. They always seemed to begin the second a relationship she was in ended, and came to an abrupt stop immediately after she would start a new one.

"I would only get them when I was single, so it was someone close enough to know that," Kristen said. She added: "When they would start again when I was on my own, he'd know what I'd been doing

"He started ringing me when I was on my own, I was terrified. It was someone I knew, I didn't know if I was going to see them in the street."

"To be honest, I was very fearful of being raped, with the sexual nature of the calls. It could have been anybody. I didn't know who it was, didn't know their intention," Kristen added.

For Karen, the accurate description Turner would provide of the clothes she was wearing would lead her to believe he was standing outside her house, somehow concealed from view.

Little did she know Turner was able to tell her what she was wearing because he was a family friend who she would see in the playground of the school their children went to; in his house, or the homes of mutual friends, as she enjoyed social occasions.

The audacious criminal would even ask her how her stalker was when he would see her.

Karen was not only forced to live in fear as a result of Turner's stalking, but she has also described how it caused her to become increasingly 'paranoid'.

"Paranoia played a part in my relationships, regardless of how much trust there is, when your phone is ringing in the early hours of the morning, it makes things difficult," she said.

Karen began to fear her stalker was lying in wait, ready to attack her, in the ginnel next to her house, and installed a fence to give her extra protection. But she still felt so unsafe that she decided to move house. Karen says Turner let her know that he knew her new address after the house move.

Karen claims she reported the calls to South Yorkshire Police during a visit to Attercliffe Police Station, but she says not only did the force fail to offer her any help beyond a suggestion to change her number, during the course of the court proceedings against Turner that eventually followed, Karen later realised that the officers she spoke to at that time also failed to even make a note of her complaint, much less investigate it. She says she feels 'let down' by the way the force handled her case.

"I knew that changing my number wouldn't do any good, because a friend who also received the calls changed her number, and he still got hold of it and continued making them," Karen said.

South Yorkshire Police has been approached for comment.

Kristen said she did not go to the police because she was unsure of what powers they had to trace a withheld number.

"I didn't go to the police when I was 15, didn't think they'd be able to trace him, that they'd just tell me to change my number. Back then, I didn't think tracing him was possible, so I'm never, ever going to find out who it is, and they're going to continue forever."

It was only when Kristen turned detective towards the end of 2018 that Turner's identity was finally revealed, resulting in him being charged with stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm or distress.

She explained: "My anxiety was through the roof...I was on my own, I started having nightmares. I knew it was someone I knew, and the calls kept waking my baby up. I thought I've got to do something.

"My mum reads books, and she'd read something about someone downloading an app to find out the number of someone making withheld calls," she said.

Kristen managed to find an app costing £6 that was able to trace withheld numbers, and she quickly downloaded it. Within days, the calls began again. The time had finally come for Kristen to unmask the man who had been tormenting her for years.

"I downloaded it on the Wednesday, and on Thursday morning, at around 11 o'clock, he started calling. I answered at first to make sure it wasn't someone else. At that time, you don't know if it's going to be the doctors ringing."

Kristen explained that in order to retrieve the number of the person making withheld calls, you need to decline the call, and you will then receive a text message with the number.

"He kept ringing, and each time the same number came through. I searched the number on Facebook, and text my mum and said 'Whose number is this?'. She searched, and my uncle's number came up. I said: 'It can't be, that's the person who's been ringing me, and whispering'. She was like: 'It can't be'."

Kristen and her mum went to confront Turner at his home. She says he 'calmly' denied he had been making the calls, and claimed he had been hacked.

"I said: 'If it's not you, and you have been hacked, then we need to find out who it is'."

It was at that point that Kristen reported the matter to the police; and in addition to the phone number she had been able to source, Kristen also provided detectives with a recording she had made of one of the calls the stalker had made to her.

Police obtained Turner's phone records, which Kristen says showed he had made frequent calls to her number, with 97 logged in the space of just seven weeks, which equates to the equivalent of around two calls being made every day. Karen's number was another of the numbers that was frequently contacted.

Turner was finally arrested, and was subsequently charged with the stalking offences.

Kristen said she had hoped Turner's suggestion he had been hacked was right. However the fact the calls stopped immediately after she told Turner she was going to police - a decision she only shared with a handful of family members - seemed too much of a coincidence to ignore.

Despite Kristen going to the police towards the end of 2018, the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting court backlog, and numerous adjournments meant the case only got to Sheffield Crown Court earlier this month (July 2023).

Turner denied the offences he faced and maintained his account that he had been hacked, forcing Kristen and Karen to relive their years of trauma in court. Despite the fear he forced them to live with, during a significant period of their lives, both women turned down the offer of having a screen used in court to prevent them from having to see him as they gave evidence; and instead, they courageously chose to face him, as he sat in the dock .

Karen and Kristen both said they feared the jury would not believe their accounts. Karen had struggled to remember exact times and dates; and Kristen came away from the witness box with a lack of confidence about the evidence provided.

Thankfully, they were proven wrong when the jury returned a unanimously guilty verdict, and Turner was subsequently sentenced to two years behind bars on July 7, 2023. During the same hearing, restraining orders were granted, which, it is hoped, will prevent him from contacting either complainant for at least the next five years.

Reacting to Turner's prison sentence, Karen said: "I'm glad he's gone to prison, I'm glad he's not walking around, thinking he's clever."

Kristen added: "I needed closure, a prison sentence was a bonus because he's scared me for so many years."

"We're still in shock, he's been found guilty by 12 people who have been told the story of what happened...I feel a bit lost for words. He was my uncle, and my mum saw him as a brother-in-law. We were all so close, and we're just not now."

Speaking after Turner was jailed, PC Thomas Rogers, investigating, said: “Turner’s actions have caused both victims years of torment. It is only right he will now spend time behind bars for this horrendous and unprovoked harassment of two victims.  I would like to commend the two victims in this case for their courage throughout the investigation and court process and hope they will now be able to move on with their lives knowing they have justice.”