Stalking laws must change to save lives, family says
SuppliedVictims of stalking are at greater risk of dying if the government fails to publish and act on the recommendations of a review of stalking laws, the father of a murdered woman has said.
Alice Ruggles was killed in her Gateshead flat in October 2016 by her ex-boyfriend Trimaan Dhillon, who had been stalking her.
The review of current legislation by Richard Wright KC was submitted to ministers six months ago. Clive Ruggles said: "We've got to do something about this and that involves just the government acting - get this report out."
The government said the stalking legislation review and its response would be published "imminently" and it was strengthening the use of stalking protection orders.
Wright was the prosecuting barrister in the trial of Dhillon, who was found guilty of murdering the 24-year-old and jailed for 22 years.
Alice's family has campaigned ever since for better education and laws around stalking, and set up the Alice Ruggles Trust in her name.
Clive Ruggles said: "Our whole mission in life at the moment is to try and stop what happened to Alice happening to others.
"It's tremendously frustrating. We've got to move on this. People are still suffering from stalking, people are still dying.
"We've got to do something about this and that involves just the government acting. Get this report out. We can look at it and get it moving into law."
The Victims Commissioner for England and Wales Claire Waxman, who has campaigned for changes to stalking laws, said current laws were leaving stalking victims at "further risk of harm".
She said: "They [the government] have had that report from Richard Wright KC for six months and I think if they are really committed to halving violence against women and girls over the next 10 years, then we have to see progress.
"We have said the legislation doesn't work. It needs reforming. I want to know when that's going to happen."
Waxman said Wright had "worked exceptionally hard" to understand why the laws were not fit for purpose and how they need to be "radically changed".
Further risk
Dhillon had been controlling during the brief relationship. When Alice, who grew up in Leicestershire, ended it he began turning up uninvited, constantly messaging and leaving unwanted gifts.
When she contacted police to report her stalker's behaviour it was misidentified as harassment. She was killed 10 days later.
Waxman described current laws as "complex" and "very difficult" for the police to put into practice, meaning victims often "fell through the gaps".
She said what happened to Alice was common in the reporting of stalking.
"What I have found over the years is that many very serious cases of stalking were not being identified properly, and that's because of the flaws in the legislation," she said.
"I've seen too many cases where stalking victims, when they've reported to the police, are being treated as harassment or as a malicious communication or low-level stalking offence.
"And it was being misidentified or not being identified at all that was leaving them at further risk of harm."
GLAThe key areas campaigners hope will be addressed in the report are the lack of a clear legal definition of stalking, the streamlining of the two different grades of stalking in legislation into one, with the onus of proving fear or distress taken away from the victim, and the process of applying for stalking protection orders needs to be made easier.
In a statement, the government said: "We must use every lever available to tackle violence against women and girls, moving further and faster to stop harm before it happens.
"We are strengthening the use of stalking protection orders, investing over £13m to establish specialist protection order teams, and last year we appointed Richard Wright KC, who prosecuted Alice's case, to conduct an independent review to ensure the law is fit for purpose."
