BBC: Presenter recalls harrowing stalking incident in Wiltshire

Isla Traquair was on BBC Women’s Hour last week and opened up about the incident in Corhsam last year to presenter Emma Barnett.

The popular programme took a look at what has changed since stalking became a specific crime in England and Wales ten years ago.

Traquair explained her neighbour Jonathan Barrett climbed the wall into her garden and entered her house to offer her a salmon sandwich.

On another occasion, as she was about to undress to wash in the sink in the morning as her bathroom was being renovated and her neighbour appeared at her conservatory window.

She explained: “After that I put in a mirror screening and a bamboo screening, which then resulted in him hacking my hedge. 

“The hedge incident was actually the point where I thought ‘this is enough’ and I contacted the police.”

Traquair told the BBC the Police didn’t support her enough and that an officer advised her to inform the now-convicted gardener of her intention to add a fence and cameras: “He said, ‘I will not be your go between’. 

“I contacted my local councillor who contacted an inspector.”

She continues: “I was really scared at this point.”

The trial took place in July 2022 and Barrett was convicted of one charge of stalking resulting in 300 hours of community service and pay £715 in costs. 

Magistrates found three incidents did not happen including the washing incident.

Traquair said: “If someone was robbed every day, if he went into my home and stole an item every day, he would've been arrested, charged, and through the court system with a more severe penalty than what happened to me. 

“What a stalker takes from you, you cannot get back, and that is your sense of safety.”

She concludes: “The cost to me financially is huge. 

“I can't even begin to, you know, clock up what that is. I can't live in my home, I can't currently sell my home, the nightmares, I've got PTSD.

“I have been going to therapy recently, which is helping.”

Barnett also received Paul Mills, Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) for Wiltshire Police, also the National Police Chief's Council lead for Stalking and Harassment.

“I’m sorry to hear that [IQ’s experience,” he said. 

He said the pandemic and “evidential difficulties” could be to blame for low charge rates reported by the programme. 

Figures shared by the programme found the charge rates have fallen from 11% to 6% from 2020-2022, a continuing year-on-year trend from 2014-15 where it was 37%.

Two thirds of charged cases end up in convictions, the BBC found.

“We accept that charge rates and summons rates are not where they need to be.”

“We’re looking to better understand what the issues are,” he accepted.

The DCC for Wiltshire Police also shared essential information on how to gather evidence, such as not deleting any online accounts that may have been used for stalking, or using cameras and keeping a diary of stalking instances. 

Mills urged women, who account for 65% of victims according to the latest ONS data, to approach the police early.

The ONS crime survey 2019-2020 revealed 3.6% adults, meaning anyone between 16-74 years old, had been victims of stalking that year, which is equivalent to 1.5 million people.

Stalking is a behaviour some are experiencing which is fixated, obsessive, unwanted and repeated, and can also happen online.

The maximum sentence for stalking was taken from five to ten years after the introduction in November 2012 of stalking and stalking involving a fear of violence as two new specific offences  in England and Wales.

This law was introduced in 2010 in Scotland, and this year in Northern Ireland.

Prior to this law, the 1997 Protection of Harassment Act tackled all forms of harassment, which included stalking. 

Organisations to contact if you believe you are a victim of stalking:

- The National Stalking Helpline - www.suzylamplugh.org/pages/category/national-stalking-helpline 

- Protection Against Stalking - www.protectionagainststalking.org

- Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service - www.paladinservice.co.uk