To ignore this 'apology'?

[SpringchickenGoldBrass]

I've posted before about a tedious online stalker (who I do actually know in RL but haven't seen in the flesh for ages). He has been quiet for ages - sent a bizarre message around New Year after months of silence, at which point I finally replied 'Do not attempt to contact me again'. Now he has sent another message basically apologising and claiming to have MH problems. Well he does have MH problems, obviously, but I simply don't want to be friends with him, so is ignoring him the best option?

Please don't be defensive: just because you aren't afraid of him, it doesn't mean you want your mood ruined by him (at best).

I would definitely ignore. Any response will be seen as an invitation to have start a new dialogue.

apart from all the advice here, I would be toying with getting the police to log this one

you don't know him for sure any more

you don't know for sure what his illness is doing to his head

you are rightly wearing a tin foil hat by keeping an eye out rather than stonewalling

..so if he did go bad on you, really bad, there is some benchmark, some date, some info logged somewhere other than your computer.

It's just you've been batsqueaking about this one for a wek or two, and it may be time to listen to yourself a bit.

Ignore him, definitely. I probably wouldn't report him at this point as the police may well take this approach at face value and wonder why you didn't report it when he was actively harassing you. If he continues with contact then obviously you need to think about reporting it.

People who engage in this kind of behaviour tend not to think about things as most people do - they seem to think their conduct is reasonable and are likely to take any response as a positive sign that you want to continue engaging with them.

A friend of mine has almost no internet presence whatsoever due to harassment by an ex-boyfriend who she met at school and went out with throughout university. When she finished it he continued to stalk and harass her, continually turning up at her address or work place and once managing to track her down when she was meeting me for a drink and turning up in the pub with flowers. He got a harassment warning and a serious warning-off from her colleagues as she is a police officer but 5 years later he contacted me via friendsreunited to "casually" ask for her contact details as though I was going to just say "of course, let byegones be byegones, here you go". I got a couple of "disappointed" follow up messages but ignored them and he gave up and that was the last anyone has heard of him for a couple of years. I have no doubt that if I had engaged with him in any way the contact would have continued.