Lily Allen reveals stalker broke into her bedroom to stab her in the face

'This guy came steaming in and I didn’t know who he was. I recoiled and he ripped the duvet off'

The 30-year-old musician’s life was plagued with tweets suicide threats and threatening letters (Getty Images)

Lily Allen has revealed that a stalker who pursued her for seven years broke into her bedroom with the intent of stabbing her while she was asleep.

The singer recalled how her life was plagued by tweets, suicide threats and threatening letters that were dropped off at her home, record company, management offices and sister’s shop.

Her stalker, Alex Gray, 31, from Perth in Scotland, was convicted of harassment and burglary at Harrow Crown Court this month and will be sentenced on 13 May.

Allen said the ordeal had a wide-reaching impact on her everyday life and turned her into a “hermit”.

Describing the moment Gray broke into her flat, Allen says she and her two young children were woken in the early hours by someone banging on the wall.

“I sat up and looked and the door handle was twisting round. This guy came steaming in - I didn’t know who he was. I recoiled and he ripped the duvet off, calling me a ‘f**king bitch’ and yelling about where his dad is,” she told The Observer.

She says the man had an object in his jacket, which she believed to be a knife. Since then, the man in question has told police he intended to stick a knife through Allen's face.

Allen said the stalker was surprised when he discovered she was not alone. Her friend managed to push the man out of the house while she immediately checked her children were safe.

“There was this second outside my kids’ room when I was terrified to go in, in case of what I might find,” she added.

Allen says she was failed by the police’s response to the situation. “No one says to you, ‘Yes, this is stalking and it’s dangerous and it’s scary, but we’re going to try to make sure you’re safe now.' Or, ‘these are the things you can do to keep yourself and your children safe’ ... The police made me feel like a nuisance rather than a victim."

She also explained she wasn't angry with her perpetrator because he has a mental illness and the wider system had let him down.

According to data from Palladin, the national stalking advocacy service, up to 700,000 women in England and Wales are stalked each year.

The long-term effects of the torment continue to haunt Allen. “It has affected how I live my life. I’m very wary, I have trust issues. It impacts on your relationships, everything. I’m practically a hermit now.”

A spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police said: “Stalking and harassment are intrusive and disturbing offences that can have an extremely distressing impact on the victim. They are offences the Metropolitan Police Service takes extremely seriously."

“We deal with around 20,000 allegations of harassment each year, a small percentage of which are allegations of stalking.”