In 1997 laws were introduced to help assist those who are victims of stalking and harassment. This can include problems with abusive neighbours or the intimidation of individuals. For example, there has been growing concern about women being harassed by former partners, although victims are not necessarily exclusively female.
Examples include verbal abuse, physical abuse or threat of physical abuse, or intimidation. This could take the form of loitering outside your house or following you, nuisance phone calls, text messages or e-mails.
As this kind of behaviour is a criminal offence you are advised to take the following action:
- Report to the police IMMEDIATELY after an incident occurs and make sure you get issued a crime or incident number
- Keep a diary of the incidents and keep it in a safe place
- Discreetly make family and friends aware of your situation but do not get a friend to "warn off" the perpetrator as this may count against you when you get to court. It is not unknown for such people to claim that you have been stalking them rather than the other way round
If the harassment is occurring in your place of work, confidentially inform your manager or trade union if this is possible and keep a note of all incidents. If the problem is arising from a neighbour, please see the section on Neighbours from Hell for additional information.
The Law
Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, harassment is defined as causing alarm or distress.
Criminal harassment is an offence dealt with by the magistrates' court and carries a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment and/or a £1000 fine. The court can make a restraining order which if breached carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.
In additional to the criminal sanction, a civil court can also impose civil injunctions in harassment cases as well as awarding damages to the victim for the harassment. Breach of such an injunction is a criminal offence. |
