Two Years of Silence: How a Slam Dunk Stalking Case Was Buried by Bureaucracy

Part 1: The Threats That Started It All

In early 2024, I was preparing to travel to the United States to attend the Airsoft ACS event “Noob Day” as a special guest. But instead of focusing on creating content and promoting the event, I found myself dealing with a coordinated wave of online abuse and direct threats to my safety if I showed up.

At first, the ACS organisers were shocked. They’d never seen anything like it. Emails flooded in with false claims: that I was wanted for tax evasion, that I’d been banned from fields for injuring women and children with metal air rifle pellets, that I was a violent cheat. Thankfully, the organisers at ACS saw through the smear campaign. They investigated the allegations, found them to be baseless, and stood firm. A local sheriff was even arranged to attend the event to ensure my safety, a surreal necessity for what should have been a community celebration of Airsoft.

This wasn’t random trolling. It was a coordinated attempt to sabotage my business, reputation, and personal safety, all orchestrated by one individual: Dan Killip.

Killip had been stalking me online for more than half a decade. He runs a dedicated Facebook group obsessed with attacking me and my brand, a repository of hate aimed solely at “exposing” Kicking Mustang. He weaponised social media, forums, and email, spreading lies and inciting others. He messaged event organisers, field owners, even my friends and business contacts, warning them about a fabricated history of violence and criminality he’d entirely made up. His goal was simple: destroy my credibility, isolate me, and incite action against me.

And when the threats crossed into real-world danger, it became clear this was no longer just digital drama. It was a criminal matter.

Part 2: A Slam Dunk Case — Until It Wasn’t

I reported everything to the police.

West Midlands Police, particularly their cybercrime detectives, took the matter seriously. They reviewed the messages, threats, and harassment and made it clear: this was a “slam dunk” Section 1 stalking case. They began gathering evidence for prosecution.

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But because the suspect lived in Hertfordshire, the case had to be passed to Hertfordshire Constabulary. That’s when everything started to unravel.

Hertfordshire refused to accept the case unless West Midlands obtained the IP addresses linked to the messages, a process that would take several months. This was despite West Midlands cyber crime detectives making it clear that IPs weren’t necessary unless the suspect denied sending the messages (which, given the overwhelming evidence, was highly unlikely).

By insisting on a bureaucratic technicality, Hertfordshire stalled the case , and in doing so, which we did not realise at the time as the case was classified as Section 1 Stalking, made effective cross-border prosecution impossible.

When Killip was finally interviewed by police around Christmas 2024, Hertfordshire called me to say they wouldn’t be pursuing charges. Their rationale? That “some of what Killip said about you was true,” and that since many of his posts weren’t sent to me directly, they didn’t count as stalking.

Both claims are legally flawed.

Even if certain claims were true (they weren’t), that doesn’t negate a stalking offence. And indirect harassment, especially when public and sustained, is absolutely covered under Section 1 stalking law.

Weeks later, a new shock emerged.

At some point, without telling me, Hertfordshire Police had downgraded the offence from Section 1 stalking (an indictable, serious offence) to Section 2 harassment, a summary offence with a strict six-month prosecution window.

By the time they had even interviewed Killip, the legal window had closed. But when did this reclassification happen?

No explanation. No accountability. Just silence.

The difference in charges mattered because Section 1 stalking carries no time limit and is considered a serious indictable offence, whereas the downgraded harassment classification has only a six‑month window for prosecution, one that had passed by the time Hertfordshire Police finally acted.

Part 3: The OPCC Upholds the Complaint

In January 2025, I lodged a formal complaint with the Hertfordshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC). Their review took many months. But in October 2025, they upheld my complaint.

Their findings were damning:

• The outcome of my original complaint was not “reasonable or proportionate.”
• Hertfordshire Police failed to provide a clear explanation for downgrading the offence.
• Continuing to investigate after the legal deadline had passed gave me false hope and amounted to “unacceptable service.”

Hertfordshire Police now had to address the elephant in the room. When was the case downgraded from Section 1 Stalking, with no prosecution window, to the lesser case of Harassment which has a six month prosecution window?

The OPCC instructed Hertfordshire Police to respond to me within 28 days.

They didn’t.

On 3rd December 2025, after I chased them, the Professional Standards Department apologised and promised a response within 14 more days.

As of today — 24th December 2025 — it’s been nearly two months. Still no explanation. Still no justice.

I am still in contact with the original cyber crime detective from West Midlands who put the Section 1 Stalking Case together almost two years ago. I update him from time to time because of all the hard work he put into the case. He is genuinely a first class police officer who clearly cares about the victims of crime, unlike the officers I have dealt with at Herts Police.

Part 4: The Weaponisation of the Internet

This didn’t start in 2024. Killip’s obsession with me goes back years. His tactics were always calculated: lie, spread, incite, repeat.

What made his campaign especially dangerous was how he used institutions to legitimise his lies.

He worked with a UK Airsoft company — First and Only Airsoft — who banned me from their sites. They then encouraged other fields to join a growing “ban list,” which he circulated online. The existence of the ban list was used as “evidence” that I must be guilty of something. It was a self-reinforcing smear campaign, built entirely on fabrications.

First and Only’s owner, Jamie Forest, had also been actively phoning other site owners to pressure them into banning me too, based on Killip’s ‘evidence’ .

At the time, I consulted my solicitor. I was told I had a strong case against both Killip and First and Only. But with Killip having no assets, and with damages hard to quantify to sue First & Only for, due to my business continuing to grow despite the bans, it would be a long, uncertain fight.

So I focused on building my business and ignored the noise.

But ignoring it didn’t make it stop.

Part 5: What This Case Reveals

This story isn’t just about one man’s obsession or one police force’s failure. It’s about systemic flaws:

• Cross-border policing in the UK is broken.
• Cases fall apart because of minor procedural hurdles.
• Victims are punished by delay and offenders rewarded by bureaucracy.
• Even when complaints are upheld, there are no meaningful consequences.

Hertfordshire Police, who do not have a dedicated cyber crime unit, insistence on obtaining IP addresses, against expert advice from specialist cyber crime detectives in another force, killed a “slam dunk” stalking prosecution. They sat on the case until they found a way to reclassify it with a statutory time limit which had expired before they had even received the case. Then they tried to walk away with the victim of a crime, me, still being stalked and harassed by a criminal.

The system empowered the abuser, not the victim.

Part 6: Still Ongoing

Two years later, the harassment hasn’t stopped.

The social media platforms are also complicit. I have contacted Facebook on a number of occasions but they insist that they have different rules for people who have over 1 million followers; they essentially allow users to say what they want about someone as long as the victim has a large following. Mind boggling.

Killip still runs his online hate group. He still contacts people I work with. He still spreads lies online unchecked.

The police know it’s happening. They investigated. They said it was criminal. But nothing has happened. And now, even the OPCC-mandated explanation is seemingly being ignored.

This isn’t over.

Part 7: Where We Go From Here

I’ve re-escalated the issue to my MP, Bradley Thomas, who previously forwarded the case to Jess Phillips MP, the Minister for Safeguarding. I’m now asking for renewed pressure on the Home Office.

If there is no meaningful response in the New Year, I will escalate to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Killip has not won. Neither has First and Only. The truth is on record. And justice is still possible.

But this case is bigger than just me.

If you’re a journalist, MP, police officer, or victim of online stalking or harassment, especially across force boundaries, and you’ve seen the same failings, I want to hear from you.

I will not be silent on this.