Being harassed is very stressful and can really have an impact on someone’s daily life. In circumstances where the victim and the perpetrator live close to each other, often as neighbours, harassment and intimidation will be extremely distressing and often make it hard for the victim to speak out against this behaviour.

Common examples of harassment incidents include;

• Offensive or derogatory texts, voicemails, letters or emails,
• Abusive comments or threats, either in person or online
• online bullying
• sending unwanted presents
• purposely following or standing very close to someone to make them feel uncomfortable
• standing or loitering outside someone’s house or driving past it
• falsely reporting someone to the police when they have not done anything

If you are being harassed either by a neighbour or someone else, the law does offer protection and you can take legal action to make it stop. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (PHA), which was originally introduced to deal with stalking, protects from harassment in a wide variety of disputes and makes harassment both a criminal and civil offence.

In this article, we look at what amounts to harassment under the PHA and look at the legal options you can access if you are facing harassment.

How is Harassment Defined in Law?

In the UK, harassment occurs when a person behaves in a way that causes another person distress or alarm. Under the PHA, a person must not;

• ‘pursue a course of conduct that amounts to harassment of another and
• which they know or ought to know amounts to harassment’

When considering whether you have been harassed, the court will consider whether a reasonable person who has possession of the same information would view it as harassment.

Harassment is not specifically defined in the PHA to allow the court’s discretion to decide whether a case is harassment or not. However, it does say that it includes alarming the person or causing them distress.

Caselaw suggests that the behaviour must be found to be oppressive and reach a level of seriousness beyond irritation, annoyance, and even a measure of upset, that arises occasionally in everyone’s day-to-day dealings with other people. The alleged misconduct must be sufficiently serious to attract criminal liability to give rise to either a civil or criminal offence under the PHA.

The harassment should take place on at least two occasions and the incidents of harassment could have happened recently or months apart and include things that the abuser has said as well as done. As a result, a single threatening comment on social media will not be harassment but two comments on social media or one comment on social media and one on a text message may be considered harassment.

The term can also cover harassment carried out by two or more defendants against an individual or harassment against more than one victim.

If you have been subjected to harassment, it is, therefore, important to report any incidents to the police and to keep a record of the relevant dates and times of any harassment, the form of harassment you suffered as well as a description of the perpetrator.

Harassment that puts Fear of Violence in Someone

The PHA also has provisions that deal with harassment that puts a person in fear of violence.  This is a more serious offence than harassment.

A person, whose course of conduct causes another person to fear, on at least two occasions, that violence will be used against them, will be guilty of this offence if they know or ought to know that the course of conduct will cause the other to fear violence on each of those occasions.

Stalking

Section 2A of the PHA 1997 confirms that stalking is another form of harassment. Stalking is often more aggressive and involves the stalker having an obsession with the person they are targeting. It usually involves persistently following someone or trying to contact a person by any means. It does not necessarily mean only following them in person and can include watching, spying or forcing contact with the victim through any means, including through social media.

There is also a more serious stalking offence that involves fear of violence or serious alarm or distress. This will involve two or more occasions that have caused the victim to fear violence will be used against them or where the fear has had a substantial adverse effect on their day-to-day activities, even where the fear is not unequivocally of violence. Examples of this level of fear could include the victim;

• changing their routine to work to avoid contact with the stalker
• moving home
• putting additional home security measures in place
• suffering physical or mental ill-health.

Defences to Harassment

Harassment will not apply if the person who pursued it shows;

• that it was pursued to prevent or detect crime
• that it was authorised by a rule of law, for example, a sheriff’s officer carrying out an eviction after a court order has been granted
• that it was reasonable in the circumstances

The third defence of ‘reasonableness’ is the most commonly used. For example, the perpetrator might argue that the contact is for the purposes of obtaining contact with shared children, or that the victim is displaying harassing behaviour, and they are merely responding to this. The court will examine the perpetrator’s behaviour and consider whether a ‘reasonable person’ in possession of the same information would think that the course of conduct amounted to harassment of the other.

Remedies

The PHA makes it possible to pursue either civil or criminal proceedings when seeking protection from harassment. Pursuing a civil claim under the legislation would obviously give you more control over issues as it doesn’t require the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue matters against the perpetrator. It is also an option if the perpetrator is not charged by the police.

Civil Offence

If you are able to prove harassment, the court can award damages for any anxiety caused by the harassment and any financial loss resulting from the harassment.

It can also grant an order or injunction to stop the harasser from pursuing any conduct that amounts to harassment. When deciding whether to grant an application for an injunction, the court will consider the likelihood of future harassment. This will be done irrespective of prior conduct since the injunction will only be granted where the need for it exists on the day of the hearing.

An injunction is similar to a non-molestation order that often provides legal protection from domestic abuse and is usually made in a civil or family court. However, a key difference is that non-molestation orders can only be used against someone you are personally connected to, such as a relative, spouse, or partner. On the other hand, an injunction under the PHA can be obtained against someone who isn’t personally connected to you, such as a friend, stranger or work colleague

Breach of an injunction for harassment constitutes a criminal offence and could carry up to a five-year prison sentence.

Criminal Offence

Harassment may also constitute a criminal offence under PHA and where found guilty, a defendant may be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine, or both. This increases to up to two years if the offence is racially or religiously motivated harassment.

For the more serious offence involving fear of violence, the maximum sentence is ten years. This is increased to fourteen years where the offence is racially or religiously motivated.

If your case goes to the criminal courts, the courts may issue a restraining order to protect you from further incidents, contact or risk of violence. Such an order can prevent the perpetrator from having contact with you in any way and can also provide an exclusion zone around your address. If you are experiencing harassment and need some legal advice on the best course of action, our expert lawyers are here to help. Contact us today via email.

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