The Beauty Queen and the Catfish: How One Woman Exposed Britain’s Most Prolific Cyberstalker
A Decade-Long Investigation Comes to Light
Major new three-part true crime documentary, The Beauty Queen and the Catfish, produced by STV Studios Factual, has landed on BBC iPlayer. The Beauty Queen and the Catfish tells the story of one of Britain’s most prolific cyberstalkers, featuring jaw-dropping testimony from several victims who piece together the truth of this twisting tale for the first time.
When a Facebook Request Changed Everything
Abbie Draper’s life was nothing out of the ordinary, until a Facebook friend request she received in 2014 reshaped the next decade of her life. What happened after that Facebook request came through is now the subject of a BBC documentary, The Beauty Queen and the Catfish, currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer. She contacted Abbie on Facebook in 2014, pretending to be David, just after Abbie’s grandfather had been admitted to hospital with a stroke.
When the town’s former beauty queen, Abbie Draper, starts to receive messages from him after he treats her grandad in hospital, she gets the feeling he might be too good to be true. Suspicions arose when inconsistencies emerged — including confirmation that no such doctor existed. Draper’s efforts to uncover the truth eventually linked the account to Rennie, a nurse who had worked on the same hospital ward as Draper’s grandfather.
The Scale of Deception
Adele Rennie is believed to be Scotland’s most prolific catfish — a label earned not through a single deception, but through more than a decade of sustained online stalking, manipulation and repeated re-offending. As many as 100 women were affected. A three-part BBC documentary – The Beauty Queen and the Catfish – has spoken to six women who were targeted over a 15-year period.
When Draper pieced together the deception, she did what anyone would do: she went to the authorities. They told her there was nothing they could do. That’s when her mission really began. The series follows her years-long amateur sleuthing as she uncovers the full extent of Rennie’s schemes, connecting with other victims across the country.
Justice and Questions That Remain
Within 24 hours Rennie had been arrested and charged with stalking, deception and sexual coercion. In July 2024 she was jailed for a third time. Rennie, who is due for release this March, issued a statement through the documentary apologising to victims and accepting responsibility.
Draper said: ‘Prison doesn’t give us closure. It just puts a pause on things. People are only going to get closure when Adele stops.’ The documentary raises important questions about online safety, the psychological factors behind catfishing behaviour, and the limitations of current legal protections for victims of cyberstalking.