Fire chief branded ‘an engineer of distress’ by his spouse who he stalked via Apple AirTag secretly sewn into her teddy bear

A fire station commander has been given a restraining order after he stalked his wife by putting Apple AirTags in her car and sewing one into her teddy bear.

Experienced firefighter Ian Crawley was called ‘an engineer of misery’ by victim Adela Crawley after he secretly tracked her whereabouts using the coin-sized device.

The 55-year-old gifted his wife a teddy bear but she was unaware that he had sewn an AirTag into the cuddly toy.

A court heard he would follow his wife when she left their home, aided by second AirTag hidden in a first aid kit in her glove compartment.

Following Crawley’s sentencing on Tuesday, Mrs Crawley’s daughter praised Apple’s technology – because without the notifications they provide, it might not have been possible to detect his stalking.

The case comes as freedom of information data from police forces in England and Wales has revealed a 896 per cent increase in the number of stalking reports involving AirTags and GPS trackers, with the cases rising from 57 in 2018 to 568 by the end of 2024.

Crawley was convicted of stalking without fear and assault by beating following a trial in December.

A district judge has now imposed a restraining order preventing him from contacting his wife.

The pair met in 2004 when Mrs Crawley joined the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service as an administrator, but Crawley – who worked for the fire service – was already in a relationship.

When that relationship began to break down in 2008, he started to ‘cling’ to Mrs Crawley, helping her out with shopping and eventually ‘love bombing’ her.

Mrs Crawley, who was a single mother, accepted his affection and the pair married in 2012. Crawley moved into her house in Alton, Hampshire.

Her two daughters, Clarissa Friend and Alicia House, said he was controlling but charming. He made a joint bank account for their mother and would lock her daughters out of the house if they missed his curfew.

But Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court heard it was not until COVID that the marriage between Mr and Mrs Crawley began to break down.

In November 2023, Mrs Crawley had a major hip replacement surgery and was still in recovery.

She had only been allowed back home for two days when Crawley had his wife’s phone. When she asked for it back he threw it at her, hitting the scar from her operation wound.

It was heard that in early 2024 Crawley moved his collection of guns into the house and would leave the keys to their safe around the property, which contravened strict firearm rules.

Between February and April of 2024 Crawley would follow his wife whenever she left the house.

Mrs Crawley began receiving notifications on her phone about an AirTag not registered to her account being close to her in March 2024.

The devices send out a secure Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby Apple devices and are designed to let users keep track of commonly misplaced personal items like their keys, wallet, purse, backpack or luggage.

They send out alerts when an unknown AirTag is in a person’s proximity.

The court heard that when she continued to receive frequent notifications about an unregistered AirTag she told her daughter Clarissa, who advised her to look through her car.

Mrs Crawley initially found the AirTag in the first aid kit, but resolved to leave it there so her husband did not realise she had found it and become angry.

She reported the find to 111, and when the car was searched by police in April a teddy bear in the boot was found to also have an Apple AirTag sewn inside of it.

Crawley, now of Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, was arrested and charged with stalking without fear and assault by beating, and was found guilty at trial.

District Judge Stephen Apted handed him an 18-month community order, 50 hours of unpaid labour and 12 rehabilitation activity sessions.

He also made Crawley pay £750 to the court for costs and £114 in a victim surcharge. The two-year restraining order will prevent contact between the couple outside of their ongoing divorce proceedings.

In her victim impact statement, Mrs Crawley said: ‘When I found the first AirTag notification I was worried but not surprised.

‘I was worried Ian would see the notifications. I had to be aware of what else Ian may be capable of.

‘There was a silent sense of threat.’

Mrs Crawley expressed her terror at knowing she was constantly being monitored using the Apple technology.

She continued: ‘If I confronted him, he would have denied everything. I was terrified of the repercussions, and the tag would be replaced with something more difficult to find.’

Mrs Crawley said her husband’s actions had devastated their family but said she hoped ‘this can serve as a warning to anyone who meets him and think he’s a nice person’.

She added: ‘He made much of being an engineer, and he is. He’s an engineer of misery.’

Speaking after the sentencing, Crawley’s stepdaughters explained their own distress at the situation.

Ms House, 30, said: ‘The most frightening thing I think it’s that it doesn’t sound like he will automatically lose his job.

‘He’s been suspended on full pay for two years. He’s stopped paying the mortgage for the joint home with mum and has gone on six holidays, cruises, all sorts with that money.

‘To anyone who complains that the NHS is underfunded, just imagine that the fire service has paid this convicted criminal two years of wages.

‘To think he’ll be able to go into the community and associate with vulnerable people with his job is beyond scary. He shouldn’t be able to.

‘He’s not a fine, upstanding member of the community like he pretends to be and like his position suggests.’

Addressing the AirTags being used, Ms Friend, 33, added: ‘I think it’s brilliant that it tells you when a device near you is not connected to your Apple account.

‘I think that means these devices can be used for their correct purposes. People don’t need to be as frightened because of that.

‘That’s actually how this came about, with Apple notifying mum. She might not have known without that.

‘This happens to women all the time and it’s not reported.’

Earlier this month, Freedom of Information (FoI) data obtained by the Independent suggested that AirTags and GPS tracking devices are being weaponised by stalkers, who can use them to track victims through a practice known as ‘air tagging’.

The devices send their location to iCloud. Users can go to the Find My app and see their location on a map.

The FoI data showed that as well as stalking cases involving the technology rising from 57 in 2018 to 568 by the end of 2024, instances of coercive control have also exploded, from 38 to 431 during the same time period – a 1,034 per cent increase.

But the true figure is likely to be far higher, as only 18 of 44 police forces in England and Wales responded to the request for information, with charities warning that survivors face a ‘postcode lottery’ on responses from frontline officers.

Apple has previously said that each AirTag has a unique serial number and paired AirTags are associated with an Apple ID.

The company said it can provide the paired account details when requested by law enforcement.