Molly McLaren

**Molly Joanne McLaren** (May 26, 1994 - June 29, 2017) was a 23-year-old student who was stalked and murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Joshua Stimpson.

## Events

### Backstory

Molly McLaren was born 26 May 1994 in Cobham, Kent, England and was a second year undergraduate student at the University of Kent at the time of her murder. She worked as a fitness instructor and blogger and had a passion for exercise. Molly had long suffered from bulimia but was doing better at the time of her death.

### Relationship with Joshua Stimpson

Joshua Stimpson was a double glazing salesman from near Rochester. He had been raised by a single father and, like Molly, had a history of mental health issues.

Molly met Joshua on Tinder in July 2016 and soon the two became a couple. It was Molly's first serious relationship and the two bonded over their shared history of mental health struggles.

In January 2017, Molly introduced Joshua to her friends. Her friends described how they got a bad vibe from Joshua which was soon confirmed when Joshua tried to isolate Molly from her friends. He would bombard Molly with messages and often show up at her house unannounced. Molly's friends describe how Molly began to feel pressured by this manipulative behaviour but was determined to give the relationship a fair chance.

In March 2017, Molly decided enough was a enough and broke up with Joshua. Joshua did not take this well and continued to bombard Molly with messages until she agreed to rekindle the relationship a few weeks later. However, Joshua continued to exhibit the same manipulative behaviour and it wasn't long until Molly began to have doubts once again.

In May 2017, the couple went on vacation to Tenerife. Whilst away, Molly texted her friends to tell them that the pair were not getting along and that she wanted to wait until she was home to do anything about it.

On June 17th 2017, Molly and Joshua went on a night out with Molly's friends. The two had an argument and Molly broke up with Joshua for the second time in the nightclub. Joshua made a scene and left.

### Murder

After the break up in the nightclub, Molly makes the decision to block Joshua on all social media platforms. Joshua did not take this well and began to make public malicious posts on his own social media about Molly. He made wild claims about her, including that she was using cocaine in an attempt to discredit the healthy lifestyle Molly was portraying online.

On June 22nd 2017, Molly and her family decide to print out all the malicious content Joshua was posting online and take it to the police for help. The police contacted Joshua to get him to remove all the content but he refuses.

On June 27th 2017, Joshua went to his local supermarket and bought a knife and a pickaxe. He also told the police he was going to remove all the social media posts, putting Molly somewhat at ease.

However, the next day (June 28th 2017), Molly went out for dinner at The Ship and Trades pub in Chatham with some of her friends. Some time later, Joshua showed up on a date with a new girl but Molly and her friends believed it was just a coincidence. It later transpired however that it was not a coincidence and Joshua had seen a social media post Molly had put up earlier that day saying that she would be at the pub that evening.

The next morning (June 29th 2017), Molly woke up and went to the gym as she normally would. She was unaware but Joshua had followed her to the same gym. She began her work out until Joshua showed up and put his mat right next to hers, making Molly uncomfortable. Molly texted her friend and her mother for advice and both women told her to leave the gym. Molly continued to text her friend as she made her way to her car.

At about 11am, Molly got into her car and was about to drive off when Joshua entered the car in the passenger seat. He got out the knife he had purchased a few days before and stabbed her 75 times.

### Aftermath

Joshua Stimpson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

## News

*For news articles on Molly McLaren, see here.*

## In popular media

### Television

* Murdered by... - *Murdered by My Ex: The Killing of Molly McLaren* (25 June 2019)
* Social Media Murders - *The Murder of Molly McLaren* (17 November 2021)
* Stalked: Murder in Slow Motion - *Molly McLaren* (5 February 2019)