Former UK Ambassador to Belarus Stalked by Ex-Partner: Woman Made the Diplomat's Life a Living Hell
Former UK Ambassador to Belarus, Nigel Gould-Davies, found himself at the center of a dramatic story that could form the basis of a detective series.
Nigel Gould-Davies headed the British diplomatic mission in Minsk from 2008 to 2009.
In the summer of 2023, he met a woman on the dating app Bumble. She introduced herself as Noor Khayam, as described in the verdict of the London court dated July 11, 2025, which Nasha Niva reviewed.
Soon, a relationship developed between them: they went to the theater and restaurants together, she often visited his apartment, and the diplomat even supported her after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, just a few weeks after the romance began, the woman launched a prolonged campaign of harassment against the diplomat.
Starting in September 2023, Gould-Davies and his associates began receiving numerous letters and messages. They purportedly came from different people, but in reality, Noor Khayam was behind it all. The diplomat did not know until the very end that it was his ex-partner who had made his life a hell.
The woman created fake social media accounts and a fraudulent website, where she accused her former partner of domestic violence, serial abuse of women, mental illness, violating the British Official Secrets Act, and involvement in money laundering.
She sent these materials to the diplomat's employers, his colleagues, politicians, journalists, lawyers, and even his brother. When she learned that Gould-Davies was considering applying for an academic position at Harvard University, similar accusations were sent there as well.
When Gould-Davies served as an expert in a commercial dispute against Russian businessmen, the woman stole a confidential document he had prepared for the court and threatened to hand it over to those he was testifying against.
The woman also stole the diplomat's passport. Because of this, he was unable to fly to Spain to spend Christmas with his mother and was forced to stay in London. In addition, she gained access to his bank card details and, without the owner's permission, made a series of purchases and bank transfers totaling more than 13.6 thousand pounds sterling.
After the breakup in early 2024, the harassment only intensified. Gould-Davies even temporarily moved to the Berlin office of the International Institute for Strategic Studies to hide. However, the messages continued to arrive.
His ex-partner tried to ascertain his whereabouts: she traveled to the area in Spain where his mother lives, contacted his brother in the USA, and after the diplomat's interview with CNN, she managed to identify the hotel in Berlin where he was staying. Gould-Davies was forced to change his residence several times.
After moving to Berlin, Gould-Davies tried to find out who had created the fake website dedicated to him and filled with defamatory materials. It was during these searches that he realized his ex-partner was behind it all and learned her real name — Farah Damji.
On March 11, 2024, the day after Damji informed her former partner that she had found him in Berlin, she traveled to Germany. However, she was detained by police at London Heathrow Airport. Upon her arrest, the police found Gould-Davies' stolen passport, as well as a laptop and several mobile phones, the passwords to which she refused to provide to the investigation.
In May 2025, a jury found Farah Damji guilty on all four counts — stalking, theft, and two counts of fraud. With cumulative sentencing, the total term amounted to six years of imprisonment. After her release, she is also prohibited from contacting Nigel Gould-Davies, his brother, and another victim in any way.
During the trial, Gould-Davies stated that this was the darkest and most terrifying period of his life. He was forced to consult a psychotherapist, take anti-anxiety medication, and in 2024, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to him, the legal term "stalking" does not convey what he experienced, as the woman lived near him, knew all his fears and weaknesses, and then used them against him. "This was not just stalking, but true psychological vivisection," he said.
It turned out that for 58-year-old Damji, this was far from her first criminal case. She had been repeatedly convicted in the UK for theft, fraud, and stalking. In 2016, she was sentenced to five years in prison for stalking three people. After her release, she violated a court order, fled to Ireland, but was extradited back to the UK. The judge noted that the campaign of harassment against the former ambassador largely mirrored her previous crimes.
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