A recent article on BBC News noted that there had been a ‘significant’ increase in stalking offences in England and Wales during the pandemic, according to police reports. More than 80,000 stalking offences were recorded in England and Wales in 2020, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics – an increase on the 27,156 offences recorded in 2019 alone.
Up to 700,000 women are being stalked each year in England and Wales according to data from 2009-12. This is likely still underestimated as it excludes cyberstalking. And while stalking is a phenomenon experienced by one in five women and one in 10 men at some point in their adult life, as well as stalking often being a gendered experience (with victims mostly being women), it is also racialised.