Stalking and the law, legal update

A Legal update?. Criminal law?

Stalking victims are to be given more protection and perpetrators will face robust management under a raft of new measures unveiled by the Home Office? (3 December).

Not knowing the identity of an online stalker can be extremely unsettling with victims left in the dark as to whether the offender is known to them, which can put them in more danger.?

For the first time, the Home Secretary will issue new ‘Right to Know’ statutory guidance to empower the?police to release the identity of an online stalker at the earliest opportunity. This will set out the process for disclosure more clearly to the police and provide victims who are subject to this chilling crime with greater reassurance that they will be quickly told the identity of the individual threatening them online.

The guidance was inspired by the experience of broadcaster and activist Nicola Thorp. She was stalked and abused online in a terrifying ordeal lasting months by a man she did not know, who set up almost 30 social media accounts to send her a constant stream of violent misogynistic messages.?

Former Coronation Street actress and Talk TV host Nicola has been working with the government to give victims the right to know who their online stalkers are after police said they could not reveal the identity of the offender even after he was arrested, despite the perpetrator once saying he had got so close to Nicola on a train, he “could smell” her.?

The man, who called himself The Grim Reaper in some of his messages to Nicola, is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence with a lifetime restraining order handed down after his appearance in court – the first time Nicola learned his true identity.?

In further measures to tackle stalking, victims will also be given more protection from offenders by making Stalking Protection Orders more widely available – these orders can ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victims or contacting them, and can also compel them to attend a perpetrator programme to address the root causes of their behaviour.

Currently, Stalking Protection Orders can only be made by the courts if the police apply for them. Under new measures, courts will be given the power to impose Stalking Protection Orders directly at conviction – or even on acquittal if there is enough evidence to suggest that they are still a risk to the victim. This will help stop, for example, offenders from contacting their victims from prison.

Responses to the new law

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: Stalking is a horrendous crime. For far too long, victims of stalking have been subject to debilitating and vicious abuse at the hands of stalkers who use any means necessary to monitor and control their victims’ lives.Let us be clear - we will use every tool available to us to give more power to victims and take it away from the hands of their abusers. This starts with empowering police to give women the right to know the identity of their online stalkers, strengthening stalking protection orders and ensuring that the police work with all support services to give victims the protection they deserve.Today’s measures are an important part of our cross government mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.

Nicola Thorp said: I’m delighted with the new measures announced by the Home Office today and look forward to their ongoing commitment to protecting victims of stalking.?For too long, stalking victims have been at the mercy not only of their stalker, but a justice system that failed to protect them.?These new measures will empower victims to regain some much-needed control of their lives and police to bring abusers to justice.

In a further step, a review of the stalking legislation will determine whether the law could be changed to support police to better identify stalking and arrest offenders.

Further measures include:?

• defining stalking in statutory guidance and setting out a framework to help support services including the police, education and health services work together and share intelligence on cases to ensure that proper protections are put in place for every victim of stalking so that no one is failed by vital information falling through the cracks
• national standards on stalking perpetrator programmes will be published to ensure that interventions properly address an offender’s stalking behaviour in a consistent and evidence-based way across England and Wales
• new data on stalking offences will be published by the Home Office which will help inform policy and policing decisions on this crime

In addition, the government has committed to accepting or partially accepting all the recommendations arising from the recent super-complaint on stalking made by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and a consortium of other organisations and campaigners to demand better support for victims, and a stronger response from the authorities, in the wake of the sharp rise in stalking offences over recent years.?

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, said:As a victim of stalking myself, I know just how terrifying it can be to be subject to such controlling behaviour.Today we are announcing 6 fresh measures which will help people go about their lives with the confidence that the person stalking them is being dealt with robustly and that more protections are in place to help them.?These measures are just the first step and we will do more to crack down on this sickening crime which no one deserves to experience.

Emma Lingley-Clark, Interim CEO Suzy Lamplugh Trust said: We welcome the introduction of these new protections for victims of stalking which are so urgently needed. Our super-complaint on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium highlighted systemic problems with the police response to stalking and we have long campaigned for improvements for victims throughout the whole criminal justice system.We hope these changes will begin a transformation of the way all agencies work together to improve the recognition and management of stalking and better support those affected by this devastating crime.