Remedies for Harassment

Harassment can be deeply distressing for those on the receiving end. Here Suzie Godden from our Criminal Law team and Lana Wilks, who works in Commercial Litigation, look at some of the remedies.

Lana Wilks

Love is a deeply complex and often confusing emotion. At times, we may develop feelings for someone who does not feel the same way. Non-reciprocation can be difficult to process, and it can be challenging to know where the line is between persistence in the face of rejection and behaviour that crosses into harassment.

What is Harassment?

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 seeks to protect an individual’s right to be free from harassment and therefore prohibits anyone’s conduct which intends to amount to harassment or amounts to conduct that “a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to or involved harassment of the other”. The law regarding harassment is intentionally broad as human interaction is nuanced and conduct associated with harassment may be reasonable in some circumstances. There are, however, requisites within the act to narrow the scope of conduct which constitutes harassment.

The key differences between persistence and harassment are consent, respect for boundaries, and the frequency and intensity of the conduct. For conduct to fulfil the requisite of harassment, the conduct must occur on at least two separate occasions and cause a person alarm or distress. The behaviour does not have to be of the same nature on each occasion.

Harassment can manifest in many different forms however, common examples include following a person, showing up at their home, workplace or places they frequent, sending unsolicited gifts, and sending repeated unsolicited texts, voicemails, letters or emails.

What are the consequences or redress for Harassment?

Suzie Godden

There are remedies available for harassment either in a civil action or a criminal action.

In a criminal charge, once reported, the matter is in the hands of the police and, if prosecuted, the courts. If found guilty, a maximum sentence of six months’ custody can be imposed on an offender, or a fine, or both. The severe negative impacts acts of harassment can have on an individual mean that the punishment cannot be trivial.  If the harassment involves causing the complainant fear of violence or causes them serious alarm or distress, the maximum sentence is ten years’ custody.

Civil remedies can also be pursued. This is where a claimant would instruct a firm of solicitors to make applications to the Civil courts, with a view to being granted damages or an injunction.

For an injunction to be granted, the court must consider the likelihood of future harassment regardless of prior conduct, as the need for the injunction which exists at the time it is granted. An injunction would seek to restrain the respondent from doing certain actions, such as conduct amounting to harassment or stalking. If the respondent subject to a granted injunction breaches the terms, the applicant/claimant, can apply for an arrest warrant, and the matter becomes a criminal one with consequences being imprisonment of a maximum of five years, and a fine. The punishment is dependent on the extent of the breach and the defendant’s conduct, known as the court’s calculation of culpability and harm caused, as well as aggravating or mitigating factors.

Damages are a financial remedy, to recoup potential financial loss or anxiety caused as a result of harassment. The most common claim is for the injunction as opposed to a high value claimed in damages.