Ferne McCann has been seen for the first time since her imprisoned ex’s fiancée claimed she ruined her life by accusing her of leaking voice notes.
The ex-TOWIE star, 33, beamed as she was spotted leaving a gym in Essex on Sunday, while sporting an oversized padded jacket and cream-coloured lounge set.
Annie Bullah, 35, who is the fiancée of Ferne’s acid attacker ex Arthur Collins, was arrested for allegedly creating an anonymous Instagram account that leaked incriminating voice audios sent by Ferne.
The leaked voice recordings from September to November 2022 heard Ferne’s voice call her former friend and TOWIE co-star Sam Faiers, 32, a ‘fat c***’ and label one of Arthur’s acid attack victims a ‘silly b****.’
But after a year of anxiously waiting to hear if she would be charged, police told Annie they would take no further action.
Ferne McCann was seen for the first time since her imprisoned ex’s fiancée claimed she ruined her life by accusing her of leaking voice notes
Annie Bullah (pictured), who is the fiancée of Ferne’s imprisoned ex-Arthur Collins, claimed that Ferne wrongly blamed her for leaking the voice notes, which caused her to be quizzed by police
Ferne was spotted clutching her phone in Essex on Sunday with her hair scraped into a ponytail just days after Annie slammed her, claiming she had been wrongly blamed for the crime.
Annie said Ferne’s accusation caused her to be quizzed by the Met Police and face a potential sentence of two years if she was found guilty of harassment and malicious communication.
But while Annie waited to hear her fate, she told MailOnline she was angry that Ferne was allowed to carry on filming her lucrative TV series and appear on shows like This Morning despite making the horrid comments.
Business owner Annie, from Chigwell, claimed she was an ‘easy target’ while Ferne prioritised her career and making money instead of being truly sorry for her actions.
Annie told MailOnline: ‘In January 2023, I received a phone call saying that I was a suspect for harassment and malicious communication for Ferne McCann and her fiancé Lorri Haines.
‘I was mortified. I’m a mother and I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong.
‘Then I was arrested and put under caution. I went to the interview and there were all these handwritten letters supposedly from me.
‘It was very distressing because even if you’re innocent, people are found guilty every day when they haven’t done the crime.
While Annie waited to hear her fate, she told MailOnline she was angry that Ferne (pictured) was allowed to carry on filming her lucrative TV series and appear on shows like This Morning despite making the horrid comments
Leaked voice recordings to an anonymous Instagram profile in September 2022 heard Ferne’s voice call her former friend and TOWIE co-star Sam Faiers a ‘fat c***’
Ferne shares her eldest, a daughter called Sunday, with Arthur Collins, (pictured) who is currently in prison after being found guilty of an acid attack in 2017
‘In the interview they quizzed me about Arthur and asked if he had forced me to do it, was I under duress, all these horrible things.’
Several recordings featuring Ferne’s voice were shared online to an Instagram account in 2022, with the ex-TOWIE star admitting it wasn’t her ‘finest hour’ as she publicly apologised for her remarks during an appearance on This Morning.
Speaking in March 2023, she said: ‘I need to take this opportunity to publicly apologise again to those affected.
‘Obviously the words that I used were unpleasant and I have reached out privately to those people.
‘It is very difficult because I would love to sit here and share exactly what went on but it’s now part of a criminal investigation so I can’t do that but what I can say is these voice notes were from a time when I was in a very vulnerable situation.’
Sophie Hall, who was scarred for life when Ferne’s then boyfriend threw acid into a London nightclub in 2017, said she felt ‘sick to her stomach’ after she heard the TV personality call her ‘ugly’ in the published WhatsApp audios.
And Sam’s family, including her sister Billie and mum Suzie, were shocked and saddened after hearing Ferne brand Sam a ‘fat c***’ in a message allegedly sent a short time after she had given birth to her third child.
Annie continued: ‘Everyone makes mistakes and everything Ferne said was awful.
Sam’s mum was shocked after hearing Ferne badmouth her daughter in a message allegedly sent a short time after she had given birth to her third child with fiancé Paul Knightley
Ferne pictured with her fiance Lorri Haines, who she got engaged to in July – six months after they first went public with their whirlwind romance
‘She has a platform where she can speak to millions of people and she needed to use it to say she’s human and I said some horrible things but instead all she thinks about is money and Showbiz and I was put in the dirt when she should have taken accountability.
‘Ferne got to keep her TV show and she just came back whereas I emailed the police daily telling them I was depressed but all they said to me was to go to A&E if I felt low. I struggled for a year. Arthur and his family supported me through it, but it was a dreadful time… she ruined my life.’
Annie suspects she was accused of setting up the profile because she is engaged to marry Arthur, who is the father of Ferne’s daughter Sunday.
However, sources close to Ferne say that she denies naming Annie as a suspect in the case.
While under investigation, the mother-of-one said her life was put on hold as she had to defend her innocence to the police and gossipers in the school playground.
Annie explained: ‘I got with Arthur in 2022 and she was aware that we were together.
‘I had seen everything that came out with the Lady Whistledown account.
‘People like to talk in Essex and a few people had mentioned to me that I was said to be the person behind the account. I thought, ‘why? Is it because I’m with Arthur so I’m an easy target?’
Arthur’s girlfriend Annie says she is angry that Ferne was allowed to carry on making her lucrative TV series and appear on shows like This Morning despite making the horrid comments in the leaked voice recordings
Annie believes that Ferne, who recently enjoyed a holiday to the Maldives, should have taken ‘accountability’ for her actions
‘It was okay for Ferne… she’s in the limelight, I had to deal with everything on my own while she was on This Morning.
‘I had people asking me in the gym, mums from the school…
‘I had to continually say, no, it wasn’t me and I am with Arthur so I’m an easy target.’
Weeks before Christmas, Annie finally got the news she had been longing for, with the police confirming there would be no further action taken regarding the case.
Speaking of her relief, Annie said: ‘Four months ago, I got told by my solicitor that it was going to the CPS for a decision. I was so worried.
‘But a couple of weeks ago, I got no further action from the police, which was such a worry off my shoulders.
‘It was almost a year, which was such a long time for it to be hanging over me.
‘She had blamed me because I am Arthur’s girlfriend and just got on with her life while I had to answer the police and everyone in Essex.
‘It was a dreadful time but finally now I can get on with my life.’
MailOnline contacted Ferne’s representative for comment at the time.
