New legal guidance will make it easier for police to go after stalkers, after ministers admitted too many are slipping through the net.
Stalking Protection Orders were introduced four years ago and allow police to impose conditions on perpetrators not to approach or contact their victims.
But figures obtained under freedom of information laws by a victims’ charity show some police forces have issued fewer than 10 per year.
A breach of one of these orders is a criminal offence carrying a sentence of up to five years.
Safeguarding minister Laura Farris has today issued new statutory guidance to all 43 police forces to apply a lower standard of proof when issuing these orders.
She told Sky News on a visit to a helpline for stalking victims: “Previously the police would have to meet the criminal standard which is beyond reasonable doubt.
“We’re lowering that now, so they only have to persuade a judge on the balance of probabilities, a kind of 50-50 test, that a Stalking Prevention Order is appropriate.
“We know that stalking, particularly when it occurs in the context of a romantic relationship that has come to an end, can be a predictor of more serious offending down the line.
“We must continue to treat stalking with the utmost gravity. Having doubled the maximum sentence, and introduced a new civil order to protect victims, we know there is more we must do.”
One in five women and one in 10 men will experience stalking
Victims say these orders are not issued as often as they should, because police and courts do not consider the legal threshold to be met – even when dozens of incidents are reported.
An estimated one in five women and one in 10 men will experience stalking during their lifetime, according to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a personal safety charity named after the young estate agent who disappeared in 1986.
Figures obtained by the trust under…
