Imagine looking over your shoulder every time you leave the house, or feeling threatened whenever the phone rings. Sounds terrifying – and it is. But this is what victims of stalking have to endure almost every single day.
Paladin, The National Stalking Advocacy Service, defines stalking as ‘a pattern of unwanted, fixated and obsessive behaviour that is intrusive and causes fear of violence or serious alarm or distress’.
Behaviour can quickly escalate. Laura Richards, founder and director of Paladin, says, ‘At least 700,000 women are hounded by stalkers every year, and at least two women are murdered each week by ex-partners who stalk them. I call these cases “murder in slow motion”, as it’s a “drip, drip, drip” pattern of fixated and obsessive behaviour.’
That’s exactly what Zoe Dronfield, 41,…
