Victim Not Suspect

CPS

CPS inspection

The CPS and stalking: what the inspections found

Two inspections, nine years apart. The most recent covered 11 cases. The announced thematic inspection did not take place.

5 July 2017 and December 2024

What this page draws on

  • Living in fear: the police and CPS response to harassment and stalking. HMIC and HMCPSI, 5 July 2017, ISBN 978-1-78655-414-7.
  • An examination of cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service included in the London Stalking Review 2024. HMCPSI, December 2024, publication CP001:1319.

The 2017 report is nine years old. Some of the practices it criticised have since changed.

The 2017 joint inspection

  1. Phase 1

    HMIC assessed six Police Information Notice cases in each of the 43 forces in England and Wales, nine in Greater Manchester, the Metropolitan Police, West Midlands and West Yorkshire. 270 cases in total, assessed as part of the PEEL effectiveness inspection.

  2. Phase 2

    Joint HMIC and HMCPSI fieldwork in six forces and their corresponding CPS Areas. 112 cases assessed jointly, 16 per force and 32 in Greater Manchester. Police and CPS action assessed in the same case files.

  3. Phase 3

    Victim research carried out by the University of Worcester with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.

  4. Phase 4

    Interviews with national leads at the NPCC, CPS, Home Office and victims' groups.

Forces and CPS Areas inspected at phase 2

  • Avon and SomersetCPS South West
  • DurhamCPS North East
  • Greater ManchesterCPS North West
  • GwentCPS Cymru-Wales
  • HampshireCPS Wessex
  • SussexCPS South East

Of the 112 harassment and stalking cases jointly assessed across six forces and six CPS Areas, not one had been handled well.

Source: Living in fear: the police and CPS response to harassment and stalking, 5 July 2017.

  • Cases where victim care was not good enough

    106 of 112

  • Cases with no risk management plan found

    68 of 112

  • Cases with no referral to specialist support

    55 of 112

  • Cases with evidence of an initial risk assessment

    60 of 112

    Of 82 domestic abuse cases, an enhanced risk assessment was completed in 78, but in 34 of the 74 where a DASH was used the supplementary harassment and stalking questions were left unanswered.

  • Cases where some crime prevention advice was given

    48 of 112

  • Cases with some digital or communications element

    82 of 112

Prosecution figures at the time of the inspection

These figures are from 2016-17 and must not be treated as current

In the year to 31 December 2016, 202,755 harassment crimes and 4,613 stalking crimes were recorded. Harassment was up 53% year on year, though the report notes malicious communications offences were added to the category in April 2015 and the underlying rise was about 19%. Stalking was up 23%.

In 2015-16 there were 12,986 prosecutions for harassment and stalking combined, the highest recorded, but only 1,102 were stalking prosecutions. The previous year was 1,103. Stalking prosecutions were flat while recorded stalking crime rose, so the proportion reaching prosecution was falling.

54% of stalking crimes in the 12 months to 31 March 2016 were flagged as domestic abuse related.

What has changed since 2017

  • Stalking Protection Orders were established by the Stalking Protection Act 2019, after this report was written. The report describes them as proposed.
  • Police Information Notices have been withdrawn or heavily restricted in most forces. The report recommended their immediate cessation.
  • The CPS revised its stalking and harassment prosecution guidance in April 2023.
  • The College of Policing published the harassment and stalking Authorised Professional Practice the report was pressing for.
  • HMICFRS carried out a super-complaint investigation into the police response to stalking, published 2024, following a complaint by the National Stalking Consortium and Suzy Lamplugh Trust. That investigation expressly put the CPS response outside its scope.

What has not been established is whether the CPS recommendations from 2017 were implemented or what effect they had. The 2024 London examination is the nearest later CPS evidence, and it covered 11 cases in two London Areas. The thematic inspection of CPS stalking handling that HMCPSI announced for its 2025 programme, which would have answered this, does not appear to have been carried out.

The 2024 London examination

The London Victims' Commissioner asked MOPAC to research the Metropolitan Police response to stalking victims. MOPAC's Evidence and Insight team identified 10,436 stalking-related cases on the MPS crime recording system between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021, and deep-coded a random sample of 376. Of those 376, 41 were submitted to the CPS for a charging decision and charges were authorised in 33. CPS decisions were outside MOPAC's scope. HMCPSI examined them separately.

27 of 41 cases deleted

Of the 41 cases referred to the CPS, 27 had been removed from the CPS case management system under the CPS data deletion policy before HMCPSI could examine them. HMCPSI states at paragraph 1.9 that because the cases were no longer accessible it was not able to assess the quality of the evidence or the corresponding decision in those cases.

Of the 14 remaining cases, three did not proceed to charge, leaving 11 cases for examination.

Sample size

11 cases is a very small sample. Percentages on a base of 11 move by 9 percentage points per case. The figures below should be read as counts rather than as representative percentages.

  • Police file quality, complying with the National File Standard

    4 of 11 did comply

    4 of 11

    Seven files did not. The stalking or harassment checklist was missing in three cases, key evidence in four, unused material schedules or material in three.

  • Application of the Code for Crown Prosecutors

    Fully met in all 11 cases

    11 of 11

  • Charge selection

    Fully met in 6 cases, partially met in 3, not met in 2

    6 of 11 fully met

    In one case the police referred a section 4 harassment offence, the CPS authorised the lesser section 2 harassment, and HMCPSI concluded the correct charge was section 4A stalking. In the other, the CPS authorised section 4A stalking and HMCPSI concluded section 2A was correct because the additional element of the more serious offence was not evidenced.

  • Appropriate ancillary orders sought

    Fully met in 8 cases, partially met in 1, not met in 2

    8 of 11 fully met

  • Victim communication letters (VCL), where required

    Required in 5 cases. 3 were timely. 1 was assessed as high standard.

    5 cases required

A claim this examination did not verify

The London Victims' Commissioner's report stated that the CPS reclassified stalking offences at the point of charge in 25 of the 33 charges, with only 10 resulting in an actual stalking charge. HMCPSI's examination was intended to address whether this reflected police file quality or CPS decisions. Because 27 of the 41 files had been deleted, it could not do so for most of the cases the claim rests on. On the 11 it could see, HMCPSI agreed with the CPS charge in 9. The 25-of-33 figure has not been verified by HMCPSI.

HMCPSI states at paragraph 1.13 that its findings are not representative of the position across the CPS in England and Wales, because every case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police and prosecuted by either CPS London South or CPS London North.

The announced thematic inspection

  1. 5 July 2017

    Living in Fear published. The report does not announce a follow-up stalking inspection at this point.

    HMIC/HMCPSI, Living in Fear, 2017

  2. December 2024

    The London Stalking Review examination is published. At paragraph 1.14 HMCPSI states it intended to carry out a thematic inspection of the CPS's handling of stalking offences in its 2025 inspection programme.

    HMCPSI, CP001:1319, December 2024

  3. 19 December 2024

    The CPS publishes its response to the examination and acknowledges the announced thematic inspection.

    CPS response, 19 December 2024

  4. April 2025

    HMCPSI publishes its business plan for 2025-26. Stalking is listed as a thematic CPS inspection with a defined scope: to draw on the December 2024 examination findings to assess the quality of CPS legal decision-making and case management in stalking cases, including the value the CPS adds in identifying the need for, drafting and applying proportionate and clear restraining orders.

    HMCPSI Business Plan 2025-26, CP001:1324, April 2025

  5. March 2026

    HMCPSI publishes its business plan for 2026-27. Stalking does not appear among the 15 CPS inspections listed, nor in the section recording inspections carried forward from the previous plan. No explanation is given.

    HMCPSI Business Plan 2026-27, CP001:1336, March 2026

HMCPSI records and reasons its inspection decisions. In the same 2026-27 plan it explains why one hate crime inspection was prioritised over others, and why a Serious Fraud Office inspection was dropped. No equivalent explanation appears for stalking. Stalking is not the only inspection that went into the 2025-26 plan and left the 2026-27 plan without a recorded decision. Custody time limits and knife crime follow the same pattern. VNS has asked HMCPSI to account for all three.

From VNS

On 1 September 2026 VNS submitted a Freedom of Information request to HMCPSI asking for the recorded basis of the decision not to proceed with the stalking thematic inspection, the date it was taken and by whom, whether any scoping work was carried out before it was discontinued, and whether the inspection is intended for a future business plan period. The request also covers two other inspections listed in the 2025-26 business plan and absent from the 2026-27 plan without a recorded decision, custody time limits and knife crime. A response is due within 20 working days. VNS intends to publish it.

Sources

  • HMIC and HMCPSI, Living in fear: the police and CPS response to harassment and stalking, 5 July 2017, ISBN 978-1-78655-414-7.
  • HMCPSI, An examination of cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service included in the London Stalking Review 2024, December 2024, publication CP001:1319.
  • Crown Prosecution Service response to the examination, 19 December 2024.
  • HMCPSI Business Plan 2025-26, April 2025, publication CP001:1324.
  • HMCPSI Business Plan 2026-27, March 2026, publication CP001:1336.

This page is part of the VNS CPS monitoring section.