Online stalking victims given proper to know identification of these harassing them

Online stalking victims will be given the right to know who is harassing them under new measures unveiled today.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will issue new ‘Right to Know’ statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identity of an online stalker at the earliest opportunity. The plans, first promised by Labour in 2023, were inspired by former Coronation Street actress and broadcaster Nicola Thorp, who was subjected to a two-year campaign of online harassment by a man she didn’t know.

Ravinderjit Dhillon, who set up nearly 30 different accounts to send her a barrage of violent, misogynistic messages, is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence, with a lifetime restraining order. Ms Thorp only learned his true identity when he first appeared in court.

Ms Thorp said: “For too long, stalking victims have been at the mercy not only of their stalker, but a justice system that failed to protect them. These new measures will empower victims to regain some much-needed control of their lives and police to bring abusers to justice.”

Stalking Protection Orders will also be made more widely available, which can ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victims or contacting them, and can also compel them to attend a perpetrator programme. These can currently only be applied when an offender is convicted and when a protection order was in place before they went on trial.

But under new rules, courts will be able to slap orders on convicted offenders even if none was in place before trial. This would stop offenders from contacting their victims from prison. The Home Office said that if someone is acquitted, courts will still be able to apply protection orders if there is evidence to suggest that the person is still a risk to someone.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Stalking is a horrendous crime. For far too long, victims of stalking have been subject to debilitating and vicious abuse at the hands of stalkers who use any means necessary to monitor and control their victims’ lives.

“Let us be clear, we will use every tool available to us to give more power to victims and take it away from the hands of their abusers. This starts with empowering police to give women the right to know the identity of their online stalkers, strengthening stalking protection orders and ensuring that the police work with all support services to give victims the protection they deserve.”

The Government has also pledged to review stalking legislation to see if it needs toughening up, and to define the offence in statutory guidance. It will also set out a legal framework for support services for victims and create national standards for stalking perpetrator programmes to ensure consistency.