Lily Allen’s stalking story persuades more victims to come forward
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Version 0 of 1. Anti-stalking charities are reporting a “Lily Allen effect” – a steep rise in the number of victims coming forward for help – after the singer revealed in the Observer last week that she had been the victim of a seven-year stalking ordeal that had culminated in a stranger breaking into her home while she slept. The National Stalking Helpline has been contacted by dozens of people who are enduring a stalking experience, an under-reported crime with poor conviction rates, in the days since the Observer interview with Allen. Organisers say the singer’s bravery in speaking out has made a significant difference. “It has massively increased the profile of a crime that is a huge problem,” said Jane Harvey, director of the Network for Surviving Stalking, who said one victim told her: “I didn’t realise that what was happening to me was stalking until I heard it had happened to Lily Allen.” “The impact has been phenomenal,” said Harvey. “For one person to have come forward to seek help would have been worthwhile, but there are many more than that … As more women come forward, the police are there to support them. Everybody needs to wise up to this. It is the key to preventing the most serious crimes, like murder, and yet it really isn’t accepted as that by police. They need to get it into their heads that stalking is behind most domestic homicides and start giving it the kind of priority that it is getting in Scotland.” Earlier this month the Suzy Lamplugh Trust released research that found that one in five women and one in 12 men in Britain have experienced stalking, and that the number of cases recorded by the police represent fewer than 1% of cases that take place. Although experts recognise the link between stalking and murder, only 27 domestic homicide reviews in the past five years have identified stalking in the lead-up to murder, convincing experts that stalking behaviour is often not identified. “I feel sorry for frontline officers,” said Harvey. “They are under pressure in a tick-box culture, yet you have to think outside that box with stalking. It’s such an insidious thing. People think, is it just me? Or am I going mad? When someone goes to the police, they need to understand, connect the incidents, and call it stalking.” Allen is backing a campaign by the Women’s Equality party (WE) and others for urgent action on the crime. Sophie Walker, the WE leader and its London mayoral candidate, said that the party had been overwhelmed by the response since Allen’s interview. “We are very proud to work alongside Lily, and have been overwhelmed by the response to her bravely telling her story and to our #jointhedots campaign,” said Walker, adding that the interview had led to new pledges from the police. “The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for stalking and harassment, Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, committed to taking forward our call for a stalkers’ register. He also pledged to introduce new guidance for police officers investigating stalking cases, a new app for victims to help them capture evidence, and a new stalking order that would put controls on perpetrators from the moment a report is made,” she said. “The WE party will continue to push for a more joined-up approach to stalking to ensure these words are put into action. WE will also continue to campaign for ringfenced funding for stalking support services, investment in police training and treatment for perpetrators, so that no more victims are let down as Lily was.” This week a further campaign will be launched by two MPs – Alex Chalk and Richard Graham – at a parliamentary event to garner support for an increase in the maximum prison sentence for stalkers, which is capped at five years. Graham said: “We’ve discovered that more people are being dangerously stalked than we realised, and some [stalkers] are so dangerous that giving judges sentencing flexibility is really important.” Dr Eleanor Aston, a constituent of Chalk’s who will speak at the event, was terrorised by a patient, Raymond Knight, for seven years, forcing her to give up her job as a GP. She now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Knight was jailed but resumed stalking after being paroled. In 2015 he was convicted again, with the judge expressing dismay that he could not jail him for longer than five years. The justice minister, Dominic Raab, said that “in principle” he backs increasing the maximum sentence. In Scotland, stalking has been made a priority crime after a campaign by Ann Moulds, the victim of a stalking campaign who eventually had to leave home and lost her business. Her case was labelled one of the worst on record – not just because of the escalating behaviour of the stalker, but because of the response by the authorities. After her stalker was given a non-custodial sentence, she launched Action Scotland Against Stalking, which led to a new law against stalking, and police training. |