Stalked

Available for over a year

It’s just over two years since the Government brought in new legislation to provide stalking victims with additional protections from those persecuting them. But in recent months, there have been two high-profile cases where stalkers have ultimately ended up murdering their victims - Gracie Spinks and Yasmin Chakifi. Both women had reported their stalkers to the police before their deaths. So is this legislation working? Stalking deaths are rare. They may also preventable and a sign of systematic failures to protect vulnerable members of our communities - most of whom are women. Lucinda Borrell travels across the country to speak to legislators and the police themselves, getting an understanding of how difficult it is to police stalking crimes and assessing national efforts to train police officers and investigate stalking effectively. She also speaks with stalking victims and advocates who say they’ve had to investigate their own cases and push for protection following a lack of awareness and confusion about the new laws in local police forces. Presenter/ Producer: Lucinda Borrell Executive Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4