STALKING offences are set to hit a record high this year in Cheshire, figures suggest.

Home Office data shows the number of stalking offences recorded in the six months between April and September 2020 by Cheshire Constabulary is already 85 per cent higher than the amount reported during the whole previous year.

The force recorded 1,348 stalking offences between April and September – from March 2019 to March 2020, there were 729.

It means that seven incidents were reported every day in the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic on average.

Reacting to the news, a spokesperson from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust said: "Since March 2020 we have seen a rise in calls to the helpline, clients are more distressed and are requiring much greater support, we have also seen an increase in cyber stalking cases.

"Demand has fluctuated to the helpline over the course of the pandemic, in some periods it has tripled on pre-covid levels.

"The introduction of Stalking Protection Orders has been very much welcomed, though we do still hope to see more police forces issuing them.

"According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales there are around 1.5 million victims of stalking each year and as such we believe there is still significant underreporting of this crime."

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The most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales found that almost one in five women had been stalked, compared to fewer than one in 10 men.

The figures also come in the same week that Femicide Census data showed that every woman killed in Cheshire from 2008 to 2018 was done so by a man.

Victoria Atkins, Safeguarding Minister, added: "The Government introduced Stalking Protection Orders last year to crack down on this deeply distressing crime, and I know that police forces are making good use of them.

"These orders are designed to stop perpetrators at the earliest opportunity and prevent them contacting victims — for those who refuse to be rehabilitated, we have doubled maximum sentences for stalking and harassment to 10 years.

"The Home Office also part-funds the National Stalking Helpline and has allocated £211,000 to stalking-focused charities to help them to deal with the consequences of the pandemic.

"The increased reporting in this instance demonstrates greater public awareness around stalking offences and the commitment of the police to tackle this abhorrent crime."