Chloe Koyce: ‘Small Things Trigger You, That’s Not Going To Go Away’

Chloe Koyce has opened up about how her stalking incident still affects her.

In March of 2025, the influencer took to social media to reveal that she had been followed into her Dublin hotel by a strange man.

Earlier this month, Denis Morris, 24, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for twelve months, on the condition that he continue his treatment for alcohol addiction.

The social media influencer has spoken about what happened that night.

Appearing on Ireland AM, she explained: “I was actually heading to Dublin for an event, which I was really excited about. It was with Guess. I headed there with my friend Lauren and we went to the Ivy restaurant. We then went for a few drinks after with my friend Shane, it was Shane’s first night in Dublin.

“Whenever I go to Dublin, it’s always exciting, it’s always fun, I’m always looking forward to it. We went to Coppers for a drink, literally one drink. I never go overboard, I’m always aware. We left Coppers and headed straight to my hotel, which was literally right across the road, and that’s when I was followed.”

She went on to say: “Lauren was waiting at her taxi waiting for me to get to the hotel door so that she could wave at me. We make sure that we’re both safe before we even leave each other. I remember outside Coppers, before I even went across the road, someone standing really close to us. But with Lauren and Shane, so many people know them in Dublin so it’s normal with their job.

“I thought it was just someone looking for a photo. I headed across the road into the hotel and the door was quite heavy, so I remember pushing it through and I heard someone come in behind me. Only because I had seen this boy stand so close to me outside Coppers, I realised, ‘Okay, maybe he’s not supposed to be here at all.’

“I headed straight to the lift and pressed the button, and when I got in I was trying to close the door. It had closed but he had slipped through. There was no cameras, I couldn’t ring my mam because you don’t have reception in a lift, so I was just in panic mode.”

She went on to say: “He was standing directly across from me, and I could see that there was a belt in his hand. I don’t know if the belt had been taken off outside Coppers, was it on the way to the hotel or in the lift, but when I saw that I was like, ‘This doesn’t seem like a good situation.’ I had actually asked him what floor he was staying on, and he wouldn’t reply to me.

“I always think to myself, ‘I should have gotten out,’ but you can’t be thinking of these things. I had taken a step forward when I knew the floor was coming up, and I pressed record on my phone and folded my arms, mainly to record any sound that might have happened. I just thought to myself, ‘Something bad is going to happen, I’m not going to get out of this lift.’.”

She admitted that she still “gets the shakes” recalling the incident, adding that she immediately went into “fight or flight”.

“When I got out of the lift, I just started walking to my room, I’ve never walked so fast. I stopped halfway down the corridor, and he actually stopped as well and then continued to walk, I don’t know if it was to make it look like he wasn’t following me or to just cover his back, but where he had walked to was a fire exit, so he didn’t have any idea where he was going.”

She explained that her mother let her into the room and that she told her a “strange man” had followed her into the hotel.

“We couldn’t go to sleep. I had gotten into the hotel at 2am, and at 6am we were still wide awake, thinking this person is outside my room,” she explained.

She added that the man had taken his belt off and “looped it around”.

“Putting on a belt on my own pants triggers me. It’s just the small things, which sounds embarrassing in a way, but small things are going to trigger you and it’s not going to go away,” she admitted.

She shared that she went to Garda in Dublin who advised her to report the situation at her local station in Limerick. Gardaí were able to track down Dean Morris via CCTV and a bank card that he used.

“I just wanted to get across how much it has affected me, my day to day life, even with my job. I know that he didn’t stalk me or follow me because of my job. I could have been anybody, but thank god I had the platform to share,” she explained on Ireland AM.

“I just wanted to get across that it has 100 per cent affected me, and that it’s just not normal behaviour.”

She shared that the incident had affected her work.

“For the last year, I’ve been putting off a lot of work and content creation because of this happening. He has really taken over a big part of my work as well as my everyday life.”

She reflected on how he reacted to her in court, saying: “He kept his eyes closed the whole time which I thought was very disrespectful. I’m just happy that he has ears and that he was able to hear everything that I was able to say. You don’t have to look at me for that.”