Ministers may support Bill to outlaw stalking

JOHN RENTOUL

Political Correspondent

The Government could back an opposition move to make stalking a crime, after David Maclean, the Home Office minister, invited the Labour MP Janet Anderson to discuss the issue with his civil servants.

Ms Anderson is drafting a private member's Bill to outlaw obsessive pursuit, usually of women by men, which falls short of intentional harassment or threatening behaviour.

She said that she got the impression from her meeting on Monday that the Home Office might back her measure "if I got the wording right".

The Home Office has resisted legislation against stalking, but has recently said that it is being considered. Last week, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the Lord Chancellor, floated the idea of extending "non-molestation orders", which currently cover married and cohabiting couples, to cover stalking by strangers or work colleagues.

Lord Mackay's plan would be a civil remedy, although it would give police the power to arrest people who breached orders. But the Government is under pressure to make stalking a criminal offence from some of its own backbenchers, as well as Labour, which wants to see a tougher message to men who can cause years of terror without touching their victims.

Ms Anderson, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, believes she has come up with a solution which will satisfy all sides, by creating a "hybrid" offence of stalking. Her Bill would make stalking a crime, but would also provide for civil orders banning perpetrators from going near their victims.

Tim Lawson-Cruttenden, a solicitor who is advising Ms Anderson, said the problem with making stalking a crime is that the stalker's intentions would have to be proved "beyond reasonable doubt". The test for obtaining a civil order would only be that on the "balance of probabilities" the stalker was reckless as to whether his actions caused distress or fear.

Prosecutions for intentional harassment failed against Bernard Quinn for stalking the Princess Royal and Klaus Wagner for stalking the Princess of Wales, because of the difficulty of proving intent.

Ms Anderson told the Commons when she introduced her Bill earlier this month: "British women who have been stalked are frustrated by the inadequacy of British law. And while the targets of obsession go on suffering, police are frustrated and angry with the absence of a specific offence of stalking."

She said there were too many cases where women's lives had been "devastated by the actions of obsessive former partners, or sometimes complete strangers".

Under her Bill, stalking would be defined as a "course of behaviour" of molestation, pestering or following likely to harass, alarm or distress.

Ms Anderson said that the Conservative MPs Sir Ivan Lawrence and Lady Olga Maitland and Michael Shersby have indicated that they would support her Bill.

Her Bill is due to receive its Second Reading on 19 April.