A loner's three-year online romance ended in hostage horror and a dramatic arrest

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

From his room in the house he shared with his mother in a small town near Chicago Edward John Best led a solitary existence. An IT worker he spent many hours online for his job and pleasure - gaming and linking up to chat rooms.

In 2018 via the platform Discord, he began talking to a number of people. One, a woman, from Tameside, he was attracted to. Their mutual exchanges continued for three years - but they never met.

A GMP detective has revealed how Best then began to make strange demands of her. On one occasion he asked to listen to her sleeping, according to GMP. He also persuaded her to send images of herself and threatened to show them to her family and post them publicly if she did not send more, the force said.

READ MORE:Dramatic moment dangerous fugitive is caught on ferry trying to flee UK after three-hour hostage horror

The detective said the relationship turned sour and the woman eventually blocked him on social media. Before that Best's response was to bombard her with up to 100 messages a day - some both threatening and vile. In one he threatened to kill her and then rape her corpse. He also unleashed his vitriol at the woman's relatives and friends via Facebook.

According to GMP Best quit his job, moved out of his home in Huntley, which has the motto "The friendly village with country charm" and for a while was sleeping in his car. Late in March this year his raging fit of pique over the end of the relationship became something much darker after he discovered his online ex had a new boyfriend. Best booked a flight from Chicago to Manchester via Istanbul.

Within four hours of arriving in Manchester on March 22nd this year he had hired a Volvo from Enterprise in Tameside, booked into an Airbnb and was