Harassment / Stalking (Section 2/2A Protection from Harassment Act 1997)

Harassment is an offence under s.2 Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and stalking is an offence under s.2A of the same Act. Section 1(1) provides that a person must not pursue a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another and which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other; s.1(1A) extends the prohibition to a course of conduct involving harassment of two or more persons intended to persuade any person not to do something he is entitled or required to do, or to do something he is not obliged to do. A person who pursues a course of conduct in breach of s.1(1) or (1A) is guilty of the s.2 offence (s.2(1)). A person is guilty of the s.2A offence if the person pursues a course of conduct in breach of s.1(1) and the course of conduct amounts to stalking (s.2A(1)), which it does if it amounts to harassment of that person, the acts or omissions involved are ones associated with stalking, and the person knows or ought to know that the course of conduct amounts to harassment (s.2A(2)). A person ought to know that conduct amounts to harassment if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think so (s.1(2)). It is not a breach of s.1 if the person shows the course of conduct was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime, under any enactment or rule of law, or was reasonable in the particular circumstances (s.1(3)). Maximum sentence: for the s.2 offence, on summary conviction, imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both (s.2(2)); for the s.2A offence, on summary conviction, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks, a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both (s.2A(4)), read as six months for an offence committed before the commencement of s.281(5) Criminal Justice Act 2003 (s.2A(5)). The more serious offences of putting people in fear of violence (s.4) and stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm or distress (s.4A) are covered on their own page.

In practice

These are summary-only offences: they are tried at the magistrates' court. Officers should photograph injuries at the earliest opportunity and again after 24-48 hours (bruising develops). Domestic abuse cases require completion of a DASH risk assessment. The suspect must be cautioned in accordance with Code C PACE 1984 before any questions about the offence are put to them. Interviews must be audio-recorded (Code E) or, for indictable offences, may be visually recorded (Code F).