A Current Affair: QLD woman reveals security video that caught stalker ex

When Queensland businesswoman Margaret Lawson met Phillip Burton, she was instantly smitten.He told her he was a former Navy SEAL, and she was soon head over heels for the “tall, worldly, handsome and sophisticated” man.
But soon, her friends started questioning which unit he had served in, and Ms Lawson realised all wasn’t as it seemed.
Appearing on A Current Affair tonight, Ms Lawson opened up about her horror relationship.
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She explained her partner’s behaviour started to escalate with frequent outbursts of anger, by controlling her movements and accusing her of lying.
At first, it was easy to “make excuses” – until he “lost it” one day in a car park.
The second incident occurred in a Melbourne hotel room after Ms Lawson contacted someone her partner “didn’t like”.
She claimed he then began to stalk her.
One one occasion, he snuck into Ms Lawson’s office and stole a kettle, which he denied – until police showed him CCTV vision of himself taking the appliance, trying to wipe his fingerprints off the handle and then catching the lift.
But it didn’t stop there – Ms Lawson said he also falsely informed her neighbours she had a sexually transmitted infection, messaged her staff and impersonated someone else and called her mobile phone constantly.
The program also aired footage of Mr Burton outside Ms Lawson’s apartment block soon after he was released from custody on stalking charges.
She said he would regularly ring her doorbell and can be seen in the footage “trying to avoid the security camera”.
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“It went on for weeks and weeks, and literally, every day, I didn’t know if I was going to … get harassed,” she said.
“He denied stalking until, finally, the police gave him, or his lawyers, a brief of irrefutable evidence, including forensics, hiring an internet hacker which showed him (getting) into my social media accounts to monitor me.
“I had to take weeks off work I was so stressed, I would sleep during the day, and stay awake all night.”
When A Current Affair contacted Mr Burton, he had already pleaded guilty to stalking and was awaiting sentencing, although he said there was “no intention ever” to stalk his ex.
“I’d rather live with my regret privately, and personally,” he said on-air.
Before they met, Ms Lawson used to write music – a hobby Mr Burton “hated”, which forced her to give it up.
Now, she’s renewing her passion for music, and has written a song about surviving domestic abuse, called Speak The Truth.
“We hope many people download it, take something from it … If one person hears something about my story … and it helps them to get out, to tell someone the truth about what’s happening, then that’s great. The entire thing is worthwhile,” she said.