Dealing with Cyberstalking

Several criminal offences apply to cyberstalking in England and Wales:

• Harassment (Section 2, Protection from Harassment Act 1997): A course of conduct (at least two incidents) that amounts to harassment. Maximum sentence: 6 months imprisonment and/or a fine.
• Stalking (Section 2A, PHA 1997): Harassment which amounts to stalking — monitoring a person online, checking their digital activity, installing software on their device, interfering with their property. Maximum: 51 weeks (in the Magistrates' Court) or 5 years on indictment.
• Stalking causing serious alarm/distress or fear of violence (Sections 4 and 4A, PHA 1997): More serious stalking involving fear of violence or substantial adverse effect on daily life. Maximum: 10 years imprisonment.
• Controlling or coercive behaviour (Section 76, Serious Crime Act 2015): Where cyberstalking is used as part of domestic abuse. Maximum: 5 years imprisonment.

Before any criminal conviction, police can apply to a Magistrates' Court for a Stalking Protection Order (SPO) under the Stalking Protection Act 2019. An SPO can:

• Prohibit the perpetrator from contacting you via any means (phone, email, social media, third parties)
• Prohibit them from attending specified locations (your home, workplace)
• Require them to comply with positive obligations (e.g., to attend a rehabilitation programme)

SPOs are civil orders (not a conviction) and can be granted on a balance of probabilities — a lower threshold than a criminal conviction. Breach of an SPO is a criminal offence carrying up to 5 years imprisonment.

Courts can also impose restraining orders on conviction or acquittal under Section 5 of the PHA 1997, which prohibit the perpetrator from specified contact or behaviour.

Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, you can also seek a civil injunction in the county court (or High Court for urgent cases) without needing to wait for a police investigation. A civil injunction can:

• Prohibit the defendant from harassing or contacting you
• Be granted as an emergency (without notifying the defendant) where there is a serious and immediate threat
• Include specific prohibitions tailored to your situation (e.g., blocking specific email addresses, prohibiting access to your social media profiles)

Breach of a civil injunction under the PHA 1997 is a criminal offence — the defendant can be arrested and imprisoned. Legal Aid may be available for injunction applications in domestic abuse contexts; otherwise a solicitor will charge privately. Some specialist charities (e.g., Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service) can assist with referrals.

If you are being cyberstalked:

1. Do not block the perpetrator immediately — counterintuitively, this may cause them to escalate to other channels or in-person contact. Take advice from a stalking advocate first.
2. Document everything: Screenshot all messages, posts, and emails with timestamps. Use a dedicated evidence log — note dates, times, platforms, and content of all contact incidents.
3. Report to police via 101 (or 999 if you are in immediate danger). Ask specifically to speak to the force's dedicated stalking or MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) team. Insist the officer records it as stalking, not harassment.
4. Contact the National Stalking Helpline (0808 802 0300) for specialist advice and referral to an Independent Stalking Advocate (ISAC) who can support you through the process.

Evidence quality is critical in cyberstalking prosecutions and civil proceedings. Poor evidence — screenshots without timestamps, missing URLs, or evidence gathered in ways that could be challenged — can seriously undermine a case. Follow these steps carefully.

What to capture:

• Screenshots with visible URL and timestamp: Use your device's screenshot function and ensure the browser URL bar is visible. On mobile, screenshot the full screen. For social media posts, also note the post's own timestamp and link (right-click or share to get the permanent URL).
• Full conversation threads: Do not screenshot only the most alarming message in isolation — capture the surrounding context to show the course of conduct. Courts look for a pattern, not isolated incidents.
• Email headers: For harassing emails, view the full message headers (usually under "show original" or similar). Email headers can reveal the sender's IP address and route, which police can use to identify an anonymous sender.
• Metadata: Where the stalker has sent photos or documents, the file metadata (accessible via right-click > properties or tools like ExifTool) may contain location data, device identifiers, or timestamps.

Evidence log: Maintain a written chronological log of every incident — date, time, platform, content summary, and where you have saved the screenshot or file. Number each entry. This log will become a witness statement if proceedings are issued.

Platform data preservation requests: Major platforms (Meta, Google, X, TikTok) have legal processes through which law enforcement can request preservation of account data before it is deleted. If you are reporting to the police, ask the investigating officer to submit a legal preservation request to the relevant platform at the earliest opportunity — some platforms automatically delete data after 30-90 days.

NCSC digital security advice for victims: The NCSC's guidance for victims of cyber harassment (ncsc.gov.uk) recommends using a separate, trusted device for communications with police and support services — not your main device which may be monitored. Disable Bluetooth and location sharing on devices you believe are being tracked. Use Signal or another end-to-end encrypted messaging app for sensitive communications. These steps protect your ongoing safety without destroying evidence on the compromised device.