Stalker types

Rejected Intimacy seeker Incompetent Resentful Predatory

But recent research shows that ordinary people are at risk too - with one in five women and one in 10 men aged 16-30, becoming the victim of stalkers, at least for a short while.

Research by Professor Paul Mullen, of Monash University, Victoria, Australia, suggests stalkers fall into two camps - the brief stalkers and those who hound their victims for months or years.

Celebrity stalker victims include actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt, tennis ace Monica Seles and film director Steven Spielberg.

Professor Mullen toldl a forensic psychiatry conference in Brighton that younger people are more at risk, as only 12% of women and 4% of men aged 45-60 have experienced the problem.

"Those figures seem odd because obviously the older group have lived longer and would have been expected to have had more experience of relationship break-ups and things like stalking.

"The high rate among the younger age group tends to indicate that rates are rising, and pretty rapidly too.

But he added that although a high proportion of women may have suffered brief episodes of stalking that only 2-4% had suffered prolonged harassment.

Society changes

Professor Mullen said changes in society could be the reason for an increase.

The professor said such changes included: greater instability in relationships; greater isolation and more difficulty finding partners; an increased blame culture and an increasing fear of strangers on the street.

"The increasing numbers of famous people and a culture of celebrity means that there are a lot of people for these stalkers to fix their attentions on.

"There is also a problem that we define everything we do by our relationships with people - but there are a lot of people who are very socially isolated and rely on fabrication and delusion for their core identity," he said.

Professor Mullen said stalkers needed psychiatric help and that they could cause their victims to suffer from stress related symptoms similar to those suffered by trauma victims.

He said it was vital that psychiatrists were aware of the psychological implications and the sources of legal and victim support services.

Health professionals were also at a high risk of being stalked and could need support and protection in the same way as the public, Professor Mullen added.

Professor Mullen divided the stalkers into five distinct groups from the celebrity stalker to the least common - but extremely dangerous - predatory stalker who hounds his victim for a feeling of power and sexual excitement.

Professor Mullen said: "Thankfully, there are very few of these people [predatory stalkers]. This is a type that has always been around and always will be."

The rejected stalker - the most common type accounting for about half of all cases. These are usually men, following a broken relationship.

The intimacy stalker - accounts for about 5% of all cases and is more likely to be women, mainly stalking celebrities and lonely patients who stalk their doctors.

The incompetent stalker - about a third of stalkers fit into this category. Most are men who think they are entitled to a relationship.

The resentful stalker - a minority of cases often rooted in the work place.

Predatory stalker - least common and most dangerous. This is the category sex offenders usually fall into. These are exclusively men stalking their victims for a feeling of power, control and sexual excitement.