What is stalking?

Stalking is a pattern of unwanted, fixated and obsessive behaviour which is intrusive and causes fear of violence or serious alarm or distress.

Stalking is a criminal offence and anyone can be a victim. On average 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men will experience stalking in their adult life. It causes victims to make changes to their lives such as stopping or changing the way they socialise, changing their routes to work or isolating themselves. This in turn can have substantial adverse effects on mental and physical health.

Most victims know their stalker but the most common is the ‘ex-intimate’. These perpetrators have been in a previous relationship with the victim, usually abusive and controlling in nature. Stalking will begin once the relationship ends in an attempt to keep control.

A stalker will have little or no regard for their victim and boundaries no longer exist. Although victims ‘just want it to stop’, the words ‘no’ and ‘stop’ become meaningless to the stalker and typically the stalking behaviour will escalate.