'Baby Reindeer' an increasing reality for many amid record number of prosecutions for stalking in Thames Valley

Hit autobiographical Netflix miniseries Baby Reindeer thrust stalking into the spotlight over the last year.

And the distressing crime is an increasing reality for more people according to new data.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice showed 111 stalking crimes, including breaches of stalking orders and racially or religiously motivated stalking, were prosecuted against across the Thames Valley.

It was an increase from 83 prosecutions the year before, and the highest since records began in 2010.

Across England and Wales, there was a record number of prosecutions against stalking offences last year, reaching 3,166, an increase of 27% on the year before.

Of the prosecutions in the Thames Valley, 72 resulted in a sentence, including 29 custodial sentences.

The average custodial sentence length was 15 months.

Separately, Thames Valley Police recorded 20,900 stalking and harassment crimes in the year to March - down from 22,100 the year before.

Police forces across England and Wales recorded a 10% decline in stalking and harassment crimes, with 637,700 in 2023-2024.

It comes as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) called on police forces to take urgent action to improve the way they handle reports of stalking and deal with victims.

The IOPC report was in response to a super-complaint by charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium.

It concluded that the police response in many cases was "not good enough and victims were being let down".

A super-complaint, which allows designated bodies to raise widespread issues that could affect public confidence in policing, was filed two years ago by the Trust about the police response to stalking, leading to the commissioning of the IOPC report.

Head of policy and campaigns at the Suzy Lamplugh Trust Saskia Garner said: "Data shows that for the year ending March 2023, only an equivalent of 1.7% of reports to the police ended in a conviction.

"This discrepancy is why we submitted a super-complaint against the police in 2022 on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium, highlighting that there are systemic issues in the way police and other criminal justice agencies are handling stalking cases nationally".

Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said the Government was "actively considering" the recommendations in the IOPC report, looking at how it can work with the police to overhaul the response to this crime and "put more perpetrators behind bars".