It was an uneasy meeting - the so-called Facebook Predator face-to-face with the woman whose identity she stole to snare boys and young men over the internet.
Natalia Burgess could not take her eyes off Natalie Maybury and frequently reached out to touch her arm.
Burgess admitted having pictures of Maybury hanging in her bedroom and using her image as the basis for fake internet profile "Laura West".
The meeting came after the Herald on Sunday revealed Burgess as the person behind a decade-long scam in which she assumed false online identities.
In each case, Burgess pretended to be an attractive young woman. She formed online relationships with young men and made her stories convincing by assigning a cellphone number to each false identity.
In some cases, the 27-year-old had sex with teenagers a decade her junior. In at least one, she had sex with an underage boy.
Some have told the Herald on Sunday they attempted suicide after getting mixed up with her and she has been blamed for one death. In almost all cases, the relationships started with Maybury's face.
The 24-year-old said she had lived in fear for years and left three jobs because her face became well-known through Burgess' scam.
People approached her in the street or struck up conversations at bars believing they had met "Laura West".
In some cases, people made assumptions about the nature of their relationship based on Burgess' online fiction.
Burgess and Maybury had met once - in 2004 at a bar in South Auckland. Burgess had a photo of the pair and used it to pretend she was best friends with "Laura West".
"They were gold to me," said Burgess.
She put framed photos of Maybury on her bedroom wall to strengthen claims about their friendship in case she lured someone to her South Auckland home.
Maybury said she complained to police in 2006.
Burgess said a "plea bargain" allowed her to plead guilty to another charge in return for police dropping Maybury's complaint.
Maybury said the case should not have been dropped, "The police have let me down."
Burgess provided Maybury and her mother Cushla with what she said were all the usernames and passwords to the fake accounts. She promised to stop using fake internet profiles.
After being exposed by the Herald on Sunday, Burgess was admitted to hospital and later placed in mental health care. She was discharged after a few days.
During the meeting, Burgess named two other people as accomplices. She provided transcripts showing she had given them passwords for false accounts. But she said she was primarily responsible and had pursued her scam for years.
Police investigating allegations against Burgess are considering legal advice.
Facebook predator and victim face off
Natalie Maybury meets Natalia Burgess. Photo / Jason Dorday
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