My stalker has been arrested

[stalkersaga]

And I really don't know how I feel about it.

He's filed multiple police complaints about me, contacted others making allegations about me, broken into my house. He was, and is, a complete stranger.

I don't feel any guilt about his arrest, just for clarity. More that he'd left the country, I'd been told multiple times he never intended to return, and now he has, and indeed is bailed and at large, just when I was trying to move on with my life. I also strongly suspect that the prosecution and conviction process will be a letdown overall.

I just really don't know how I feel or what to do or say. This is what I wanted to happen. And it has. But.

Don’t give up hope
I got a restraining order against my neighbour with no end date which I was told was incredibly hard to get .
He was convicted in the crown court of various offences .
I thought that it would end when his suspended sentence ends but I checked and there is no end date
He would have to apply to court to get it removed and there is no good reason for it to be removed
If I could have kissed the judge in the crown court I would 😂

@Workchatter that’s right it has to be asked for at the time of sentencing
It’s hard to get a no contact - restraining order but I got one last year .
I know that if he comes anywhere near me or even contacts me through another person I can call the police and have him arrested again because he would be in breach of the order
I couldn’t believe it when they said no end date but the courts could obviously see that he was a real danger to myself and my family

My stalker was given a restraining order when charged which is still in place since sentencing . There was a big gap between arrest and the court case so I was really glad it was in place so quickly. The police and cps took it very seriously and there was a custodial sentence and I would say what you've described is more serious than what happened with me so I would expect a restraining order to be imposed pretty quickly and a prison sentence .

My hopes are not high. He has no previous and the police seem to have very little interest in prosecuting it as a pattern of stalking and harassment rather than as an isolated break-in.

@stalkersaga
I had only made complaints to police over several years but no arrests or charges
But it was still seen as on going harassment and enough to get an indefinite no contact order once he was convicted in Crown Court
He spent 3 -4 months on remand as well before going to court

Thanks @Hippychicken1. I'm sorry you went through that but hope that justice helps.

DH made a long statement today discussing the pattern and also a victim impact statement. I'm hoping I get asked to do one too - DH was the primary witness to the break-in but I was the primary target of the stalking.

I would definitely recommend getting in touch with the National Stalking Helpline. They were so supportive in my case as my ex stalked me and breached the restraining order 16 times. They escalated it within the Police to their SPOC (stalking point of contact) who was a high ranking officer and he handed it to PPU (Public Protection Unit) to deal with and I had 2 fab officers who were on the ball and got better court outcomes as a result. It was so hard going thru the court stuff but the National Stalking Helpline were really supportive and called me weekly and I kept in touch by email too. Thankfully all has been quiet since he got sentenced to 20 months in prison and restraining order made indefinite.

So sorry you're going thru this