‘When I reported I’d been raped by my best friend’s husband, I didn’t realise he had also been my stalker’

Paula Doyle had no idea vile ‘pest messages’ she’d been receiving for years before the rape were from same man

Paula Doyle speaks about why she waived her right to anonymity to name her attacker

Catherine Fegan

Paula Doyle’s phone was vibrating so incessantly that the detective suggested putting it in another room. The devoted mother of five, who had been raped by her best friend’s husband just days before, was in the living room of her home in Dublin, giving a detailed and emotional statement about the attack.

As she spoke, an officer took down the harrowing details of what Aidan Kestell did to her while he walked her home from a family party. At the same time, message after message was coming in to her mobile.