Warning from the Crown Prosecution Service: offenders of stalking or harassment who commit further offences against victims whilst breaching a restraining order will face prosecution.

Stalking is a pattern of fixated, obsessive, unwanted and repeated behaviour, which is persistent, intrusive and causes fear of violence or engenders alarm and distress in the victim.

Under the hate crime legislation, courts must treat offences more seriously where there is evidence that the offender demonstrated hostility on the basis of the victim’s actual or presumed race, religion, disability, transgender identity or sexual orientation, or the offence was motivated on the basis of hostility towards one of these characteristics. Below are some examples of hate crime cases prosecuted by CPS Yorkshire and Humberside in November 2024 which resulted in a conviction and an uplifted sentence.