LONDON: British singer Lily Allen has revealed that she was harassed by a stalker for seven years.

The 30-year-old singer says she is now “practically a hermit” after years of terror at the hands of one Alex Gray, who has

stalked her online, at concerts and even broke into her house one night when she and her two young daughters wereasleep, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Gray first contacted Allen on Twitter, using the handle ‘LilyAllenRIP’ and claimed to have written her song The Fear before sending her abusive letters and approaching her assistant and colleagues.

Speaking to The Observer, Allen said, “I had all sorts of metal shutters and locks on the doors but I had been cooking and burned a pan and opened the back door. I closed it but forgot to lock it when I went to bed. (Later that night) I sat up in bed and looked and the door handle was twisting round.”

“This guy came steaming in and I didn’t know who he was. I recoiled and he ripped the duvet off, calling me a ‘f***ing bitch’ and yelling about where his dad is,” she added.

Allen believes her stalker had a knife when he broke in and has slammed the police for not taking her claims of stalking seriously.

“It was not special attention I looked for. It was reassurance and validation. The police made me feel like a nuisance, rather than a victim,” she said.

Gray was convicted at Harrow Crown Court of burglary and harassment earlier this month and will be sentenced in May.