Did you know that around one in five women and one in 12 men have experienced stalking in their lifetime in the UK?
National Stalking Awareness Week is an annual UK campaign to educate the public, professionals and policymakers about the dangers of stalking, advocate for victim support, and push for stronger legal responses. The aims of the campaign are to reduce stigma, increase reporting, and save lives through awareness.
It is a time to reflect on the profound impact stalking has on individuals and spread awareness about how we can protect victims, support survivors and work towards ending this harmful behaviour. Stalking is an invasion of privacy, safety and emotional wellbeing.
What is stalking?
Stalking involves repeated and persistent behaviours intended to harass, intimidate or control another person. Anyone can be a stalker, and anyone can be a victim; this includes a partner, family member, friends or strangers.
To be defined as stalking, the behaviour needs to be seen as fixated, obsessive, unwanted and repeated.
Research released by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in 2016 indicated that around one in five women and one in 12 men have experienced stalking in their lifetime in the UK, and during the last decade this trend has remained flat; the latest figures reported by the Crime Survey for England and Wales in (CSEW) show that one in five women (20.2%) and one in 12 (8.7%) of men have experienced stalking at some point since the age of 16.
For the year ending March 2024 the CSEW found that one in 25 (4%) women and one in 45 men (2.3%) aged 16 years and over was a victim of stalking.
Younger people were more likely to be a victim, with 8.8% of people aged 16 to 19 years experiencing stalking in the past year. More than one in 10 women (10.5%) and around one in 15 men (6.7%) aged 16 to 19 years were a victim of the crime.
Stalkers are most likely to target someone they know: the largest proportion of stalkers is a partner or ex-partner (around one in five victims), demonstrating a clear link to domestic abuse and high risk, and domestic abuse stalkers are more likely to cause serious harm to their victim than other types of stalkers.
Out of approximately 1.5 million stalking victims in the year ending March 2024, an estimated 423,000 (28%) were victims of domestic stalking – 314,000 (21%) were stalked by a partner or ex-partner and 141,000 (9%) were stalked by a family member.
Approximately 635,000 (42%) victims reported that the stalking had involved online methods, such as using electronic communications to threaten or harass.
What should you do if you think you are being stalked?
The golden rules of stalking protection use the acronym REPORT and emphasise minimising contact with the stalker, seeking support, and proactively documenting the situation.
Report it – as early as possible report it to the police and tell trusted family members, friends and support organisations.
Ensure you get good practical advice from professional services (see below).
Proactive evidence collection – document and keep all the evidence including calls and messages.
Overview of what’s happening. Keep a diary of dates, times and locations.
Risk checklist – complete the Stalking Risk and Screening Checklist (SDASH) questions, ideally with a trained person eg the police, or you can do a self-check to assess the level of risk.
Trust your instinct.
What you should not do!
If you know someone who is being stalked, don’t encourage them to:
- change their phone number
- close their social media accounts
- block the stalker on their phone and/or social media
This may stop the immediate behaviour, but the stalker may look for other ways to contact them, which increases risk.
Find more support at – Cyberstalking Action Plan — The Cyber Helpline
If you are being stalked or know someone who is, don’t:
- assume stalking isn’t serious because no violence has occurred
- share information with the stalker
- encourage contact with the stalker
Find more support at – Alice Ruggles Trust | Putting an end to stalking
Take time to read some relevant resources around how to spot the signs of stalking and what to do if you believe that you or someone you know is being stalked.
- If you feel unsafe call 999 and ask for the police, or for a non-emergency call 101.
- Suzy Lamplugh Trust – the UK’s pioneering personal safety charity and leading stalking authority, established in 1986, following the disappearance of 25-year-old Suzy Lamplugh, an estate agent and lone worker who went to meet a client and never returned. The National Stalking Helpline was set up by the trust in 2010, it has helped over 75,000 victims since its inception, and it is the only service of its kind globally.
- National Stalking Helpline – Freephone, helpline open 09:30 – 16:00 weekdays, except for Wednesday when it is open 13:00 to 16:00. The helpline is not open on bank holidays. Helpline 0808 802 0300.
- Paladin – The National Stalking Advocacy Service provides trauma informed support, advice and advocacy to high-risk victims of stalking. Call: 0203 866 4107 09:00 – 15:00 Monday to Friday except Wednesdays when the line is open 10:00 – 17:00.
- Domestic Abuse support available – Lincolnshire County Council
- Lincolnshire Domestic Abuse Specialist Service
