Sinister device hidden in a mum’s car exposes dangerous domestic violence trend

The discovery of a sinister device hidden in a woman’s car points to a growing dangerous trend that authorities are powerless to stop.

After mustering up the courage to make a formal statement to police about being bashed and strangled by her husband, Michelle Faye walked out of the station and found him waiting by her car.

At the time, the Gold Coast mum couldn’t understand how he found out where she was – how he always seemed to know her movements – until a few months later when the mystery was revealed.

Completely by chance, Ms Faye found a small rectangular device concealed under the dashboard in her vehicle, which was tracking her every move.

Michelle Faye found a concealed tracker in her car, planted there by her abusive husband.

It wasn’t the only way her abuser, estranged husband Daniel Gregory Mctiernan, was keeping tabs on her, not just after she left him, but for years prior without her knowledge.

And she’s not alone.

More and more victim-survivors of domestic violence being monitored and stalked by their abusers, who are aided by increasingly sophisticated and inexpensive technology.

Secretly monitored 24-7

In addition to the tracking device in her car, Ms Faye discovered recording devices in her home on a number of occasions.

“Seven or so months before we broke up, I was speaking to a friend on the phone about the relationship, how it wasn’t going well, how much trouble I was having,” Ms Faye recalled.

“The number of people I confided in was very, very small. But I was really struggling, so I opened up to my friend.

“I remember going to get something out of the drawer next to my bed and I bent down and saw a mobile phone, on record, hidden under it. It had captured everything I had said. I thought: ‘Oh no, I’m in trouble here. If he hears what I was saying to someone, I’ll be dead.’

“The phone was locked and I couldn’t crack it, so I panicked and smashed it. I buried it under a tree and then acted like nothing had happened.”

Even after the discovery of the tracking device, and when her ex-husband had been removed from the home, Ms Faye continued to cross paths him frequently.

“I’d be at the shops, doing the school run, in the drive-through at McDonald’s, and he’d be there. He made it seem like we were just randomly bumping into each other.

“I had someone go through my car to check for devices but it was clean. Then I realised, far too late, that he had access to my Google account, which allowed him to go through my Maps locations to see where I was and where I had been. So, he was still tracking me.”

Michelle Faye's ex-husband has been convicted of 16 serious charges related to the domestic violence she endured and will be sentenced next month.

Those chilling encounters, which constituted breaches of a domestic violence protection order, were reported to police but never resulted in any charges.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 57 per cent of domestic violence victim-survivors had their phones checked by an abuser without their consent or knowledge.

But law enforcement and legislative reform have largely failed to keep pace with rapid technological advances.

Daniel Gregory Mctiernan will be sentenced next month. Picture: NewsWire/ Scott Powick

Lauren Trevan was 19 when she met her future husband, who was 30, and became enthralled by his grand romantic gestures and intense attentiveness.

“At the beginning, he treated me like a goddess,” Ms Trevan said. “He was charismatic and very loving. It was a good feeling, but it only lasted a few years. Slowly, over time, he became controlling and extremely possessive.”

Several years in, she would occasionally catch him going through her phone and later trying to read her Facebook messages.

The snooping became more frequent, before the behaviour escalated to constant monitoring of her phone and computer, with him accessing everything she sent or received.

“He told me he had put cameras in the house so he would know if I had anyone there. I was certain he was tracking me. He knew where I was all the time.”

Lauren Trevan’s ex-husband monitored her phone and computer constantly. Picture: Patrick Woods

Knowing that all of her methods of communication made escaping her abuser near impossible. There was no safe way of making a plan to get away from him.

Eventually, after 16 years of marriage – much of it close to a living hell – Ms Trevan escaped. Her ex is currently behind bars, serving a 14-year jail sentence with a non-parole period of 11.5 years, for various offences including child sex charges.

For Ms Faye, her former partner was earlier this year convicted of 16 serious charges and will be sentenced next month.

A crucial lifeline

At the start of the pandemic, IT consultant Ashton Wood was stuck at home, unable to travel interstate for work, when he stumbled upon a new life purpose.

“I did what most people did – a huge clean-out of the house of stuff,” Mr Wood said.

“Anything decent, I packed into the car to take to the op-shop to donate, but then I got lazy and never got around to it.”

While chatting with a mate, a former cop now working in the domestic and family violence space, he leant that several items in that assortment of household goods were desperately needed.

“She asked if I had any old mobiles, and I did, and she said she wanted them. When I asked why, she explained that women experience domestic violence can have the best safety and escape plan violence, but often their phones are tracked or monitored.

“In many cases, their abusers don’t even let them have access to a home. There’s no way to enact a plan, to contact people in their support network, to call for help in an emergency.”

DV Safe Phone has repurposed, refurbished and distributed 10,000 mobile phones to victim-survivors of domestic and family violence. Picture: Anna Gilbert

Mr Wood passed on the two old phones, which were in perfect working order but that had been superseded by new models.

“I asked how many more she needed. I work in IT, I deal with corporates. There are boxes of old phones sitting in storage in offices. Everyone I know has a few laying around their house. I figured I could rustle up 50 of them, maybe 60.

“But I wondered if that might be too many. She said: ‘You will never get me enough phones.’ And so, that’s how DV Safe Phone was born.”

In the almost five years since, the not-for-profit organisation has repaired, repurposed and gifted more than 10,000 mobile phones to domestic and family violence victim-survivors across Australia.

“We work with agency partners, from community groups to hospitals, safe houses and police stations, to get a safe and secure phone to anyone who needs one from 370 locations.”

What began as a passion project at home has now entirely consumed his life.

While he’s no longer a one-man band, with a board, a couple of staff, and some very devoted volunteers, getting a device to a woman in need isn’t simple or cheap.

Hi-tech spy tools are available, like long-range listening devices described as being for 'birdwatching'.

DV Safe Phone runs entirely on some grant funding and generous public donations, but Mr Wood needs more support to meet the overwhelming demand.

“We’ve asked governments many times for help, we’ve put proposals in front of them, but the answer always seems to be that there’s no money,” he said.

The lack of government support flies in the face of the research and rising demand.

There’s also a huge pipeline of potential supply, with data showing there are some 22 million redundant mobile phones gathering dust in drawers and cupboards, with most winding up in landfill.

A shocking evolution

Some of the spy tools that were once confined to James Bond films are now available to virtually anyone, thanks to technological advancements driving down cost and ramping up supply.

Online marketplaces openly hawk tiny hidden cameras in everything from pens to alarm clocks, while location tracking devices the size of a coin and listening bugs concealed in smoke alarms are also readily available.

The sale and import of such goods is largely unregulated, and abusers are making the most of it.

Incredibly tiny hidden cameras are readily available and cheap.

Technology is increasingly a feature of domestic violence, criminologist Lisa Sugiura from the University of Portsmouth and Jason Nurse, a cyber security expert from the University of Kent, wrote in analysis for The Conversation.

The pair conducted a study for the UK Government on the extent of the issue and found a range of tactics were being deployed by abusers to maintain control and surveillance.

“We found that abusers often have physical access to their partners’ devices and use them to monitor, harass and humiliate,” they wrote.

“Abusers can force their victims to disclose passwords, PIN codes or swipe patterns to get into their devices so they can install spyware – all without sophisticated tech knowledge.

“Geolocation software and other surveillance spyware provide new possibilities for abusers to monitor and track victims’ movements. In our study, we found hundreds of tools online that could be used for these purposes.”

Online marketplaces sell a range of everyday products with hidden cameras concealed inside of them.

Listening devices with long battery and recording life can also be concealed in other innocuous items.

Researchers have also noted a rise in so-called “dual use” apps – services that meet legitimate needs for monitoring, such as antitheft protection or child device use monitoring – that are being hijacked.

“Similar concerns have been voiced about covert monitoring devices and smart tech such as Apple’s AirTags.

“These small Bluetooth devices are designed to be paired with tracking apps for finding lost belongings, such as car keys. But stalkers have reportedly exploited them too.

“It’s not just smart devices that are being used to access personal information.

“Smart locks, thermostats, networked TV and sound systems, as well as security monitoring equipment are also being exploited to control and terrify victims – to monitor their movements and any visits they get.”