Calls to National Stalking Helpline rise by 11% during pandemic as perpetrators turn online

Calls to the National Stalking Helpline rose by 11 per cent during the coronavirus pandemic as many perpetrators have turned online, new figures show.

Data released exclusively to The Independent shows callers dealt with almost 18,000 calls from March 2020 until February this year - a substantial jump from the just over 16,000 calls the stalking helpline received in the same time period a year earlier.

While the helpline handled 10,308 calls between June and October last year, which is an increase of 29 per cent from the same period during the year before.

Violet Alvarez, of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which runs the national helpline, told The Independent they have witnessed an overall increase during the course of the pandemic but this was particularly pronounced last June when lockdown restrictions lifted.

She added: “We think when restrictions are eased, people have the mental capacity to come forward more easily. With all the distractions such as working from home and home schooling in the lockdown, it can’t be easy.”

Ms Alvarez,  policy and campaigns officer at the anti-stalking charity, which is the largest of its kind in the world, noted stalkers have a great deal “more time on their hands” in lockdown.

She said: “They may have lost their jobs or been furloughed. That is why we have seen a rise in online abuse and hacking from people who were already likely to demonstrate these stalking behaviours, but now the pandemic has heightened these behaviours.

“Stalking victims are at home the whole time which makes it easier for the stalker to know where they are at all times. The impact that Covid has had on statutory services, such as the police and the courts - namely a delay in trial hearings - has left victims feeling unsupported during their journey through the criminal justice system.”

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust noted it has seen a change in stalking patterns since the Covid crisis hit - with perpetrators ramping up the frequency and intensity of some forms of mistreatment.

Every single stalking case it dealt with this year included some form of digital behaviour, the charity said.

The organisation recommends anyone who thinks they are being stalked to ring the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300, use their online tool, or go to the police, particularly if they are fearful they are in “immediate danger”.

Stalking is one of the most frequently experienced forms of abuse, with official figures showing one in five women and one in 10 men will be stalked in their lifetime.

The Independent previously spoke to stalking victims who have suffered massively during the pandemic - with one woman saying she felt like she was “living in prison” and frightened about going in the garden.

The Crime in England & Wales Survey states over 1.47 million people were stalked in 2019, but just two per cent of victims reported it to the police, many of whom will have been subjected to up to 100 incidents before coming forward.

Last spring, The Independent revealed reports to Paladin, another leading anti-stalking charity, had soared during the Covid crisis – with contact from stalking victims doubling during the lockdown.

A study by the University of Gloucestershire on the relationship between stalking and homicide involving a female victim and male perpetrator, found that in 71 per cent of cases the victim and perpetrator were in, or had previously had, an intimate relationship. It found stalking was identified in the run-up to 94 per cent of the 358 criminal homicides examined.