A warning to women: Protection orders can make your stalker a KILLER

COURT ACTION MEANT

A RESTRAINING order can turn a stalker into a killer, security experts warn.

For some pursuers the “extreme nature of desire” plus the “intolerable” public rejection in the form of a court order, is the trigger for a deadly attack, they say.

Last week it was revealed that police brushed off terrified Alice Ruggles’ reports about her stalker ex, who then went on to murder her.

Security expert Gavin de Becker believes in some cases the restraining order itself turns the stalker into a killer.

Mr De Becker, who worked with the prosecution on the stalking aspects of the OJ Simpson trial, claims: “Many homicides have occurred at the courthouse where the women were seeking protection orders, or just prior to the hearings.

“Why? Because the murderers were allergic to rejection.

“They found it hard enough in private, but intolerable in public.

“For men like this, rejection is a threat to the identity, the persona, to the entire self, and in this sense their crimes could be called murder in defence of the self.

“Police are the enforcement branch of our society, and when people misbehave, it is police we expect to make them stop. “That’s usually fine, except in cases in which police contact actually encourages the behaviour it is meant to deter.” Mum Alison Morrison was stabbed 40 times by her “bad neighbour” Trevor Gibbon the day after he was issued a restraining order.

Mr De Becker quoted the negotiation and conflict expert Professor Mary Rowe who said a warning sign was the “extreme nature of a desire”. Security specialist Mr De Becker, who works with the US government and famous figures like Oprah Winfrey, says in some respects, he would encourage women to seek an arrest for assault or breaking and entering instead of a protection order.

In his book, The Gift Of Fear, he says: “Charges for breaking the law involve the system versus the lawbreaker, restraining orders involve an abuser versus his wife. “Many batterers find intolerable the idea of being under the control of their victim.” Women’s Aid runs a free National Domestic Violence helpline on 0808 2000 247. DAILY STAR SUNDAY SAYS – PAGE 6