A former Miss Scotland finalist has bravely shared the shocking story of how a seemingly charming online romance turned into a devastating catfishing ordeal, orchestrated by someone she knew and trusted.
The Beginning of a Web of Lies
In 2015, Abbie Draper, then 35 and living in Kilmarnock, received a Facebook friend request from a handsome man calling himself 'Dr David Graham'. The medic claimed to be caring for her ill grandfather at the time, a detail that didn't initially raise alarm. Their connection grew through messages and phone calls, with everything seeming perfect in the early stages.
However, the situation began to unravel when 'David' repeatedly invented excuses to avoid meeting in person. This persistent evasion sparked Abbie's suspicions, prompting her to turn detective. Her investigation took a dramatic turn after she agreed to perform at a charity event he had organised. Upon posting about it online, a stranger sent her a warning message urging her not to trust 'Dr David'.
The Shocking Unmasking
Acting on the tip, Abbie contacted the event venue and discovered no booking existed under that name. Digging deeper into the 'doctor's' social media, she noticed a pattern of the same few people validating his profile. "When I started looking deeper into David Graham's Facebook, I started noticing it was all the same people commenting on his things," she recalled. "Then I started asking myself, 'Are they real?'"
Through relentless online sleuthing, including reverse image searches that revealed stolen photos, Abbie and other women who came forward made a horrifying discovery. 'Dr David Graham' was not a real person. The perpetrator was, in fact, a female nurse named Adele Rennie. The betrayal was compounded by the chilling realisation that Rennie was the very nurse who had been tending to Abbie's late grandfather in hospital.
"I was in such disbelief," Abbie said. "I've seen her side-by-side with my granddad, it's actually quite sickening. That was someone we put our trust in, it's terrifying to be honest."
Justice Served and Lasting Impact
Abbie and the other victims banded together, compiling extensive evidence of the cyber stalking and deception. Their efforts led to Rennie's first conviction in December 2017, where she was jailed for 22 months. She was convicted again for similar offences two years later. Most recently, in 2024, Rennie was sentenced to 28 months behind bars and could be released later this year.
Reflecting on the obsessive hunt for the truth, Abbie described being utterly consumed. "Time went so fast, and I didn't sleep. I was sitting on my phone looking for things and my laptop... I was consumed by it all," she revealed in her BBC documentary, 'The Beauty Queen and the Catfish'.
Abbie's story serves as a powerful warning about the dangers of online deception and the profound emotional damage caused by such calculated betrayal, especially when it originates from a position of trust.
