|
|
|
Criminal law – Harassment – Course of conduct – Appellant making three calls within five minutes to complainant’s mobile telephone – Whether calls constituting a course of conduct – Protection from Harassment Act 1997, s 2.
Notes
This harassment case demonstrates the short period of time over which harassment can be said to have taken place. In the case three abusive messages were left on the victim's mobile telephone. The phone was not switched off and the victim did not hear them until the next day.
The judge ruled that the three calls could amount to harassment contrary to Section 2 of the act, despite the short period of time over which they were left and the fact that the victim did not listen to all the calls together until the next day.
This case is obviously relevant to activists, as it demonstrates that harassment need not take place over a long period of time. We know of one demo in August of this year when 3 activists were arrested for a course of conduct which took place over the period of one hour on a single demo. It is to be hoped that this fairly recent judgement will soon be overturned as this is surely not the type of stalking behaviour that Parliament had in mind when passing the legislation.
This article is for information purposes only; its aim is to let people to know their full rights under UK law. Nothing on these pages is absolute as the law is always changing; if in doubt contact a trusted solicitor for further advice. We do not encourage you to break the law.
Please feel free to copy and distribute these articles to fellow activists, but do not alter the text in any way. These articles are anti-copyright for non-commercial purposes. Please visit www.freebeagles.org for the latest version of our articles and to learn about the freeBEAGLES Ethical Open Document License under which this document is distributed.
If you see any errors, or we have missed any changes to the legal situation please contact us as soon as possible, at info@freebeagles.org, as wrong information can prove costly to people's freedom.
© Copyright freeB.E.A.G.L.E.S.; last updated: November 2003