Victims of the “horrendous” crime of stalking are to be given better protection including the right to know the identity of their online stalkers, the Government has said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has committed to using “every tool available” to take power from abusers and hand it to victims.
The changes come following a warning earlier this year from a group of watchdogs who said police are failing to protect stalking victims in too many cases.
Around one in seven people aged 16 and over in England and Wales have been a victim of stalking at least once, figures suggest.
New “right to know” statutory guidance is aimed at ensuring police can reassure those being stalked that they will be told the identity of an online stalker at the earliest opportunity.
The guidance was inspired by the experience of broadcaster, activist and former Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp, who was stalked online but told by police they could not disclose the offender’s identity, even after he was arrested.
The man is serving a 30-month prison sentence with a lifetime restraining order, handed down after his appearance in court, which was the first time Ms Thorp learned his true identity.
Stalking Protection Orders – which can ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victims, or contacting them – will also be made more widely available, the Home Office said.
The new approach will see courts able to impose such orders after a conviction even where none was in place before a trial, contrary to the current process where one has to have been in place already.
This will stop offenders from contacting their victims from prison, the department said.
If someone is acquitted, courts will still have the power to apply protection orders directly if there is enough evidence to suggest that the person is still a risk to someone, the Home Office added.
The Government has also promised a review of stalking legislation to determine whether the law could be changed to support police to better identify stalking and arrest offenders.
Other promised changes include defining stalking in statutory guidance and setting out a framework in law to help support services work together to ensure no-one is failed by vital information falling through the cracks.
Today’s measures are an important part of our cross-Government mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade
The Home Office said it will publish new data on stalking offences to inform policy and policing decisions, and set out national standards on stalking perpetrator programmes to ensure consistency across England and Wales.
Ms 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.”
As a victim of stalking myself, I know just how terrifying it can be to be subject to such controlling behaviour
London’s independent victims’ commissioner, Claire Waxman, welcomed the changes, saying police and the criminal justice system had for too long “struggled to deal robustly with stalking, leaving offenders undeterred and victims at risk”.
She said: “I welcome today’s announcement which outlines a set of measures that will help towards rectifying this. I am delighted that the Government has agreed to review the current stalking legislation and to increase the use of Stalking Protection Orders, both of which I called for following my London Stalking Review.
“Too often, I hear from victims facing relentless, terrifying behaviour from stalkers, only for the police or CPS to downgrade it to a lesser offence, such as malicious communications or harassment.
“It is clear the current stalking laws are failing to protect victims and I urge Government to now proceed swiftly with their review in this area.”
Ms Thorp said: “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.”
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips recalled her own experiences of being stalked, including by someone from prison, and said she had come across “quite a lot of cases” where people behind bars were able to stalk ex-partners online.
Ms Phillips told LBC that when her stalker was convicted, she thought “that’s that done”, but they had then been able to contact her from jail.
She said she took a “crestfallen” phone call from the justice secretary at the time, apologising to her that this had been allowed to happen in the prison system.
She said the new measures announced on Tuesday “are just the first step and we will do more to crack down on this sickening crime which no-one deserves to experience”.
A major joint report published in September saw the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the chief inspector of constabulary and the boss of the College of Policing make recommendations for improvement as they detailed the findings of an investigation launched in response to a so-called super-complaint raised two years ago by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust (SLT) on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium.
The complaint – made through a process which allows charities and other bodies to raise widespread problems which could affect public confidence in policing – set out concerns including how there had been flawed investigations, instances where stalking was not being properly identified, officers “minimising or trivialising” such behaviour and the risk of victims being seriously hurt or killed not being recognised.
The Government has committed to accepting or partially accepting all of the recommendations.
The IOPC welcomed action being taken to address the issues identified during that joint investigation.
Its director general Rachel Watson said: “Change is happening and we welcome the actions announced, which will help to make a real difference to those affected by this awful crime.
“In the new year, we will be publishing all the responses we have received to our recommendations, which will outline more of the steps being taken across policing to address this important issue.”
Emma Lingley-Clark, interim chief executive of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said: “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.”
