Stalking Solicitors – Legal Help to Stop Stalking & Unwanted Contact

At Whiterose Blackmans Solicitors, our stalking and harassment solicitors advise people experiencing unwanted contact, intimidation, online stalking and other persistent behaviour. Depending on your circumstances, we advise on a tailored legal approach designed to stop the behaviour, including cease and desist letters and applications for injunctions.

Speak to our stalking solicitors confidentially about what has been happening and the steps available to protect you. We provide specialist legal advice and representation in this area on a privately funded basis only. 

Please note that we do not offer Legal Aid or act under “no win, no fee” arrangements in relation to this type of work.

What Is Stalking?

Stalking generally involves a pattern of persistent and unwanted behaviour directed towards another person.

It does not necessarily mean physically following someone.

Stalking behaviour can potentially include:

• repeatedly following you;
• waiting outside your home or workplace;
• repeatedly calling or messaging you;
• continuing to contact you after being told to stop;
• creating new accounts after you have blocked them;
• monitoring your social media activity;
• repeatedly viewing or commenting on your online activity;
• contacting your friends, relatives, employer or colleagues;
• sending unwanted gifts or letters;
• appearing unexpectedly at places you regularly visit;
• monitoring or tracking your movements;
• placing tracking devices on your belongings or vehicle;
• publishing information about you online;
• impersonating you or creating fake social media profiles;
• making repeated threats or intimidating comments; or
• engaging in conduct intended to frighten, pressure or control you.

No single behaviour necessarily determines whether stalking has occurred. The overall pattern and circumstances are important.

You do not need to decide for yourself whether the behaviour legally constitutes stalking before speaking to a solicitor. If someone’s behaviour is persistent, unwanted or causing you concern, we can assess what has been happening and explain your options.

Someone Is Stalking Me – What Should I Do?

If you believe you are in immediate danger, contact the police urgently.

Depending on the circumstances, it may also be sensible to:

• retain messages, emails, call records and other communications;
• keep a chronological record of incidents;
• Preserve any CCTV, photographs or video footage;
• tell people you trust what has been happening;
• review the security and privacy of online accounts where technology is being used to monitor or contact you; and
• obtain legal advice about steps that may be available to stop further contact.

You do not need to wait until you have assembled evidence before reporting stalking or harassment to the police. However, preserving evidence where it is safe and possible to do so can be important if the behaviour continues or legal proceedings become necessary.

How Can a Solicitor Help Stop Someone Stalking Me?

There are several legal options that may be available when someone refuses to stop contacting, following or monitoring you.

Depending on the circumstances, our solicitors may advise about:

• sending a formal cease and desist letter;
• requiring the individual to stop contacting you;
• seeking undertakings that specified behaviour will not continue;
• applying to the Court for an injunction;
• seeking an urgent or interim injunction where immediate protection is required;
• taking action under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997;
• seeking damages arising from harassment or stalking;
• dealing with stalking carried out through social media or online platforms;
• addressing false allegations or defamatory statements accompanying the stalking; and
• taking civil legal action alongside a police investigation or criminal complaint.

The appropriate approach will depend on the nature of the behaviour, the level of risk and whether the situation is escalating.

Early legal intervention can be particularly important where someone has ignored requests to stop.

Can I Get an Injunction Against Someone Who Is Stalking Me?

Potentially, yes.

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 provides civil remedies that can enable someone experiencing harassment or stalking to seek an injunction from the Court.

Depending on the circumstances, an injunction may prohibit an individual from:

• contacting you;
• approaching you;
• attending your home;
• attending your workplace;
• contacting members of your family;
• communicating with you through social media;
• publishing specified material about you; or
• engaging in other specified conduct.

The precise restrictions will depend upon the facts of the case.

Where protection is required urgently, it may also be possible to seek an urgent interim injunction on a without notice basis. 

Breaching an injunction can have serious legal consequences.

If someone is continuing to contact or approach you despite being told to stop, our solicitors can advise whether an injunction may be appropriate in your circumstances.

My Ex Won’t Leave Me Alone – Is This Stalking?

It can be.

Many stalking and harassment situations arise following the breakdown of a relationship.

A former partner does not have an unrestricted right to continue contacting you because you previously had a relationship with them.

Potential warning signs can include:

• repeated messages or telephone calls;
• appearing at your home or workplace;
• monitoring your social media;
• monitoring or interfering with new relationships;
• contacting your friends or relatives;
• sending unwanted gifts;
• using other people to contact you;
• creating new accounts after being blocked; or
• repeatedly finding ways to contact you after you have made it clear that you want communication to stop.

If your ex-partner will not leave you alone despite being asked to stop, legal remedies may be available.

Someone Keeps Messaging Me After I’ve Asked Them to Stop

Repeated unwanted messages are a common feature of stalking and harassment cases.

The communications do not necessarily have to contain an explicit threat.

Their frequency, persistence, content and the surrounding circumstances can all be relevant.

Repeated contact may take place through:

• WhatsApp;
• text messages;
• Facebook;
• Instagram;
• TikTok;
• Snapchat;
• LinkedIn;
• email;
• telephone calls; or
• newly created or anonymous accounts.

Blocking someone does not prevent you from taking legal action if they continue attempting to contact you through alternative accounts, telephone numbers or other people.

Online Stalking and Social Media Harassment

Stalking does not have to take place face-to-face.

Someone may never physically approach you but may repeatedly monitor your online activity, contact you, create fake accounts, impersonate you, contact people associated with you or publish material intended to intimidate or distress you.

Our solicitors can advise in cases involving:

• cyber stalking and online stalking;
• social media stalking;
• anonymous online harassment;
• repeated unwanted messages;
• fake or newly created accounts;
• impersonation;
• malicious communications;
• publication of private information;
• threats;
• defamatory allegations; and
• campaigns of online abuse.

Stalking can overlap with harassment, defamation, privacy and data protection law. Where this happens, we can consider the pattern of conduct as a whole rather than treating each incident in isolation.

Someone Keeps Creating New Accounts to Contact Me

Blocking someone does not necessarily bring unwanted contact to an end.

In some cases, an individual may create new social media profiles, email addresses or telephone numbers after existing accounts have been blocked.

They may also attempt to communicate through friends, relatives or colleagues.

Repeated attempts to circumvent your efforts to end communication can form part of the wider pattern of behaviour and should be considered alongside the other incidents that have occurred.

Keep records of the contact where it is safe to do so and obtain advice if the behaviour continues.

Should I Report Stalking to the Police?

Stalking can constitute a criminal offence.

If you believe you are in immediate danger or the behaviour involves threats or serious risk, contact the police urgently.

However, criminal proceedings and civil proceedings are different.

Depending upon the circumstances, civil legal remedies may still be available where:

• nobody has been arrested;
• the police have taken no further action;
• a criminal investigation is continuing; or
• there has not been a criminal conviction.

Our solicitors can advise you about civil action to stop stalking or harassment and how this may interact with any police investigation.

What Evidence Should I Keep?

Where possible, preserve information that demonstrates the pattern of behaviour.

This may include:

• screenshots of messages;
• emails;
• telephone records;
• social media posts;
• photographs;
• CCTV or doorbell footage;
• details of witnesses;
• records of police reports;
• copies or photographs of letters and gifts; and
• a chronological record of incidents.

Avoid deleting communications simply because they are upsetting if it is safe for you to retain them. They may later help demonstrate the nature and persistence of the behaviour.

You do not, however, need to delay reporting stalking to the police simply because you have not yet collected evidence.

Can a Solicitor Send a Letter to Stop Someone Contacting Me?

Yes.

In appropriate cases, an early step may be for a solicitor to send a formal letter requiring the individual to stop specified behaviour immediately.

The letter can make clear that the contact or conduct is unwanted, identify the behaviour complained of and explain that court proceedings may follow if it continues.

In some cases, a solicitor’s letter is sufficient to bring unwanted behaviour to an end.

Where a warning is ignored, the behaviour is escalating or the circumstances are sufficiently serious, an injunction may instead be appropriate.

Stalking by a Neighbour, Colleague, Former Friend or Family Member

Stalking is not limited to former romantic partners.

We can advise where the person responsible is:

• a neighbour;
• former friend;
• colleague;
• former employee;
• customer;
• business associate;
• relative; or
• someone you first encountered online.

What matters is the nature and pattern of the conduct rather than the particular relationship between you.

Stalking and False Allegations

Some stalking and harassment cases also involve false allegations being circulated to other people or published online.

For example, an individual may repeatedly contact your employer, customers, family or friends and make allegations about you.

Depending upon what has been said and how it has been communicated, this can raise issues involving harassment, defamation, privacy or other areas of law.

Whiterose Blackmans Solicitors has experience dealing with disputes involving harassment, stalking, defamation and harmful online publications and can advise on the appropriate combination of remedies.

Frequently Asked Questions About Stalking

Speak to a Stalking Solicitor

You should not have to reorganise your life because another person refuses to respect your boundaries.

If someone is repeatedly contacting you, following you, monitoring you, threatening you or otherwise refusing to leave you alone, obtaining legal advice can help you understand what can be done to stop the behaviour.

Whiterose Blackmans Solicitors advises individuals and organisations in stalking and harassment disputes nationwide. 

We can advise on injunctions, urgent interim applications, cease and desist letters, repeated unwanted communications, online stalking, social media harassment and associated defamation and privacy issues.

Speak to our stalking solicitors today for confidential advice about your situation.

We provide specialist legal advice and representation in this area on a privately funded basis only. 

Please note that we do not offer Legal Aid or act under “no win, no fee” arrangements in relation to this type of work.

Phone: 0113 216 5507

Email: wa****@*******************co.uk

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