Three victims of stalking share their shocking stories as latest crime figures reveal a 14 per cent rise in the crime in North Yorkshire

MORE than 1,300 incidents of stalking and harassment were recorded by North Yorkshire Police last year – up 14 per cent on the year before.

The crime has also been in the spotlight recently after BBC presenter Emily Maitlis revealed how she had been stalked by a university acquaintance for 20 years and had felt "scared and let down" by the system. Her perpetrator, Edward Vines, continued to harass her even while he was in jail for breaching a restraining order.

Here, three York women reveal their experiences of being stalked and the actions they took to keep themselves safe. Names have been changed to protect their identities.

Bryony

"I was in my early 20s and working in a pub in York. He was one of our regulars and in his mid 50s. He took a shine to me. It all started off innocently, then became stranger and stranger. He started turning up at other pubs when I was out with my friends and began saying things to other people about me. They were quite bizarre things, like that I was pregnant and possessed by a demon.

One night at work, my phone went missing. Then he started phoning members of my family and even my grandparents in Scotland. He couldn't have got their numbers without having taken my phone. He was phoning my mum at three in the morning and in the end I contacted the police.

They visited him at home and told him not to come to my place of work or randomly turn up at places where I was. He told them we were destined to be together. He showed up another couple of times at work, even though I changed jobs and moved to another pub, and I contacted the police again. In the end, he was sectioned – he clearly had mental health problems.

The whole experience has made me more cautious about talking to new people. I'd encourage anyone being stalked to go to the police. If it is happening at work, make your employer aware."

Jenny

"He cheated on me, so I ended the relationship. I told him I didn't want to hear from him again and blocked his number. But he was like water looking for a crack and found other ways to contact me through social media and on public internet forums that I was involved with, and which proved a challenge to block him.

He started sending me letters and even followed me abroad, turning up at the airport. Some people said they thought that was romantic – and I had to say to them that if you ask someone to leave you alone and they turn up at a foreign airport, how is that romantic?

He started contacting other friends to try to get them to persuade me to talk to him. He kept threatening to turn up where I live. It came to the point I was looking out of my bedroom window in the morning to see if I could spot his car. York is a small city, but I started always looking over my shoulder. That is not the sort of person I wanted to be. He was still sending me letters and flowers five months after we had split up. I thought about going to the police, but thought he hadn't done anything to physically threaten me, so I didn't.

My approach was to just ignore him. I didn't respond to any texts or letters. It all ended about a year ago – I think he has moved abroad.

I have moved house too and he doesn't know my new address, which has given me a great deal of peace of mind."

Karen

"We were in a relationship and had children together. He was controlling and abusive, and when I finally got the courage to leave him, the stalking and harassment began. He would video me at home, filming over the fence, and posting it on social media. He would phone and text me, telling me: "nobody is going to want you."

IDAS (Independent Domestic Abuse Services) supported me. I went to the police and he was eventually charged with harassment. The court case was a disappointment: he was acquitted. Afterwards, he just carried on with the same behaviour and even chased my new boyfriend. He was charged again and we were back in court. In the lead up to the court date, you can feel the anxiety building. There are adjournments and you need time off work and lose money and have to pay for childcare. This time, the court found him guilty and gave him a suspended prison sentence as well as a restraining order.

It is completely suffocating. Mentally you are in the dark. I have lost weight and my hair fell out. The doctor put me on anti-depressants. My washing machine and dryer were in an outhouse and I used to be terrified of going out to them because I thought he was going to stab me. The police even put a ghost car outside my house to act as a deterrent. I also have an alarm that goes straight to the police station should he turn up.

But I still worry. By all accounts, he is fixated and obsessed with me and wants to destroy me."

Getting support

North Yorkshire Police and IDAS work closely in giving support to victims as well as keeping them safe and getting them justice.

Temporary Detective Superintendent Allan Harder, of North Yorkshire Police, urged victims to contact police as soon as stalking or harassment becomes an issue. He said: "If you are thinking about calling the police, you are right to call the police – let us take the details, make an assessment and give you advice."

He said victims could also get support from groups such as IDAS (Independent Domestic Abuse Services) and Paladin (the national stalking advocacy service).

Adele Whitley is a domestic violence advisor and outreach worker for IDAS in North Yorkshire. She said: "The police and courts takes stalking and harassment very seriously. When someone gives you that intense focus and is thinking about what you are doing so that you have to change your life around, that is a very frightening place to be."

She said victims should record incidents in a diary and contact the police if the perpetrator continues after being warned to cease contact.

She said: "If it becomes a criminal offence it is taken very seriously. It isn't a waste of court time. In domestic murders, a common denominator is stalking and harassment."

Contact:

North Yorkshire Police: 101, or 999 in an emergency

IDAS: 24 hour helpline 03000 110 110 / website:idas.org.uk / email: info@idas.org.uk

Paladin: 020 3866 4107 / website: paladinservice.co.uk

National Stalking Helpline: 0808 802 0300 / website: stalkinghelpline.org