What is cyberstalking?

“That bit of your life starts breaking down and you become more invested in online relationships and more likely to become fixated on those,” Short explained.

Jail time

Harassment and stalking, whether in person or online, are classed as offences under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. 

The maximum sentence for harassment or stalking is six months’ custody. But if harassment puts people in fear of violence or if stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm, the maximum sentence is ten years.

In December, a 44-year-old former soldier, Carl Davies of Flint in Flintshire, was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail after being found guilty of harassment for sending death threats to former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin on social media. He also warned Minchin via Instagram that “your daughter will be raped”. 

‘Never heals’

The crimes of cyberstalkers “cast a long shadow”, shattering many victims’ sense of safety, said The Guardian. 

Abby Furness, a 22-year-old dancer from Brighton who was stalked by Hardy, said: “All I do now is worry. It doesn’t leave you. It’s like a cut that keeps getting deeper and deeper over the years. It never heals.”

People targeted by Hardy “lost friends, family members, relationships and professional opportunities” as a result of the stalking, the paper reported. “One terrified victim slept with a baseball bat in her hand”, while another “kept a samurai sword beside her bed”. Some “were diagnosed diagnosed with depression and anxiety and needed medication”.

And Covid-19 lockdowns “made it easier for stalkers to terrorise their victims”, said The Telegraph. The stalkers “had more time on their hands“ to “hunt their prey”, while many victims felt “more vulnerable” and “unable to access support” as a result of the enforced isolation.

“In the old days”, the paper added, stalkers “waited outside people’s houses”, but “now, via a computer, phone or tablet, they target victims inside their homes”.

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/crime/956313/what-is-cyberstalking