In January 2022, Hardy was sentenced to nine years in prison at Chester Crown Court after he pled guilty to "stalking involving fear of violence and harassment, after breaching a restraining order which blocked him from using false details on social media platforms," reported The Independent. In the documentary, Sirin Kale, an investigative journalist for The Guardian, said ".1 percent of stalkers receive a criminal conviction. The average custodial sentence is a little over 13 months."

Hardy's conviction was unusual and while he was being sentenced, Judge Steven Everett added context to the long stretch of prison time. He reiterated that the nine victims who were in court had “done nothing to harm you; you chose them at random." As a result of his harassment and abuse, these women were likely to be "affected for the rest of their lives."

Gina Martin, one of Hardy's victims, told The Independent the cyberstalking began in the summer of 2015. Seemingly out of nowhere, Martin started getting odd messages from friends and former coworkers but it didn't take long for her to realize these were fake accounts. She and Hardy attended secondary school together, which is how he knew her. Soon Hardy stole pictures from her social media and created fake accounts wherein he pretended to be Martin. This was his modus operandi with all the women.