The couple met when Shannon was 17 and working part-time at a Costa Coffee shop, fitting in shifts around her college studies.
“It was quite strange because everyone who I knew and everyone who I worked with – because he was then coming in the store so often – everyone called him my Costa stalker,” she said.
“He introduced himself to my dad as my Costa stalker when he first met my dad.
“So it was strange because he somewhat knew his behaviour was odd but he still sort of embraced it.”
At first, Shannon was flattered by the attention but the relationship quickly began to spiral.
She said little things built up until he was controlling her whole life, including what she wore, ate and who she spoke to.
“The main tipping point for me though was going to see my nephew for his birthday and he wouldn’t let me go,” she said.
“He’s my world. I absolutely love him.”
After turning off the tracker on her phone, Shannon said she found the courage to tell her parents what had been happening.
“[Walsh] made it out that everybody hated me and only he would love me, only he would accept me and his family,” she said.
“Because you have that ingrained in your brain so much, you start to believe it because it’s all you hear.
“So I was so scared to tell my parents what had been going on.
“Not because of how they’d react or what they’d do, it’s because of what he made me think they’d do.”
