Expert: We need more treatment for stalkers and better support for victims

One of the world’s top stalking experts warns predators cannot be stopped without the introduction of treatment programmes linked to sentencing.

Professor Ronan McIvor, from London’s Nightingale Hospital, says jailing stalkers can be ineffective without treatment to address their behaviour. He said: “Persistent stranger stalkers, or intimacy seekers as we know them, are most often loners who are unaware their behaviour is damaging to their victims. They fantasise about having a relationship with their victim.

“Jailing them without treating them will rarely be an effective way of stopping them. In fact, it may make them angrier and give them more time and space to fixate on their victim, so by the time they come to be released they are even more unpredictable.”

McIvor says the criminal justice system must do much

more to better understand and deal with stalking, both to prevent future offending and to support victims. He said: “We need to see far greater use of treatment orders, and there needs to be a far deeper understanding of the devastating effect on victims – PTSD, depression, hypervigilance, feelings of distrust and some feel so helpless they are driven to suicidal thoughts.

“It can destroy a person’s confidence, affect their ability to do their job, damage their career and leave them traumatised, which is why employers really must take a far more proactive stance by developing stalking protocols.

“Violent stalkers tend to be mostly men and some, like serial killers such as Peter Tobin, stalked their victims before striking. Persistent stalkers rarely stop without intervention, and it is imperative their targets refrain from any contact or interaction. The pandemic created the perfect storm for an increase in stalking. The use of masks made it easier for predators, increasing their sense of separation. It worked perfectly to hide their faces from CCTV. I believe we will see an increase in cases as a result – another reason we need to see more effective ways of dealing with stalking.”