Protection orders used very sparingly

Measures to stop victims from pursuing victims are rarely being used, a campaigner has warned.

Stalking Protection Orders (SPOS) were introduced five years ago, but a Freedom of Information request by the BBC found 1,388 SPOs had been issued by the 40 forces that responded to the request.

Nearly 440,000 cases were pursued across 44 UK police forces between 2020 and 2023.

Clive Ruggles, whose 24-year-old daughter Alice was scolded and then Murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Gateshead in 2016Said that he was “rapidly appalled” that the SPO was little used five years after it was introduced.

Ellis was part of the campaign to get the Ruggles Trust order passed into law.

“This is what we fought for,” Mr. Ruggles said.

“SPOs provide an important means of deterring criminals and protecting victims.

“They have to be used and they have to be used properly.”

Amy, a 37-year-old business owner from Middlesbrough, whose surname the BBC has agreed not to use, was one of four people Cleveland Police applied for an order in 2023.

Her ex-husband had tortured her after their 18-year marriage ended. She said he tracked her whereabouts through his watch, trolled her on social media and made small bank transfers to get her attention and keep her on his mind.

When he ignored police warnings to leave Amy alone, the force suggested it apply for an SPO on her behalf.

She thought it was an answer to her prayers and that “eventually she would stop”.

SPOs were introduced in January 2020 and are civil orders that must be enforced by police through magistrates’ courts on behalf of victims.

They restrict activities such as entering certain places or making contact.

They are designed to protect victims in the early stages of investigating alleged stalking and to stop the persistent harassment experienced by Amy.

Her ex-husband managed to get her to connect an old smart watch to her phone’s Bluetooth, which meant she always knew where she was and had access to her emails.

“When our marriage ended his behavior escalated,” she said. “He would post about me on social media, get other people to message me.

“He would transfer small amounts of money to my bank account – like 1p or 21p – just to annoy me,” Amy said.

“He would come into my shop and harass my employee.”

The terms of Amy’s SPO stated that her ex-husband could not contact her in any way, or through any third party, and could not visit her home or work.

In November last year he was accused of breaking it by viewing her TikTok page, remanded in custody and, on January 8, found guilty at Teesside Magistrates Court.

Amy initially found the terms of the order to be “very specific” meaning that unless her ex-husband breached the exact terms set out therein, she would not be pursued.

She also said she was surprised by the amount of police officers that “didn’t even understand what one (an SPO) was”, and felt like people were not “properly educated” about them.

But, now seeing what it was meant to do, he said “When they work, they work”.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC she said: “I just want freedom. I’ve lived a busy and stressful life for the last few years and now I want to be free.”

She had taken self-defense classes and removed her dog from her living areas in a bid to protect herself from her ex-husband’s stalking behavior.

SPOS were part of the Stalking Protection Bill brought forward by former Totnes Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Wollaston in 2018 and which came into force in January 2020.

At the time Wollaston described stalking as an “insidious form of harassment”.

Labor MP Jess Phillips, whose ministerial brief includes security and violence against women and girls, said the figures were “simply not high enough” and “a lot of work” was needed.

“With stalking, some of the legislation is not clear about what it can do to enable police to work within the framework,” she said.

“So we are committed to looking at how the law defines what behavior is.”

Phillips, who has previously spoken out about being the victim of stalking, said that on one occasion the perpetrator “became very violent, not only towards me but other people around me”.

He said the government planned to change the law so that SPOs could be used against anyone in custody.

“On one occasion, where someone had harassed and threatened me with harm and gone to jail, he was able to continue that regime from jail.”

Stalking and domestic abuse are a major concern for Cleveland Police.

For this reason it applies to be one of five forces that will pilot the new domestic abuse protection notices.

The force has seen the second highest rate per population size of recorded stalking crimes in England and Wales.

Assistant Chief Constable Richard Baker said the force “absolutely should be doing more SPOS” but applying for them can “often lead to pages and pages” of paperwork.

“They’re not simple for police officers to do,” he said.

“This should not be a barrier to victims. But a busy workload is one of the drawbacks of the few civil orders available to us.”

Suzy Lamplugh Trust submitted a super complaint How police forces conduct chases in 2022.

feedback The report was published in September following an investigation by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, senior representatives of the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) and the College of Polling.

It found that “significant changes are needed” to improve the police response to reports of stalking, including making SPOs simpler and easier to use.

Saskia Garner, the trust’s head of policy and campaigns, said “protection orders are being taken too far by the police”.

He said the charity wanted to use them as “a first step to protect victims in the early stages of reporting stalking”.

The National Police Chiefs Council said that SPOs were a “valuable tool”.

“We are working hard to introduce best practice nationally across forces, ensuring that orders are enforced and used across the board, so the police response to stalking is more consistent and better for victims. Our service has improved,” it said.

Additional reporting by Lauren Woodhead, England Data Unit.