More than 27,000 reports of stalking have been made in Greater Manchester over the last three years

A new map has revealed the stalking hotspots in Greater Manchester.

More than 27,000 reports of stalking have been made in Greater Manchester over the last three years. During that time, the number of incidents reported across the city-region has increased every year, rising from 7,776 in 2022 to 9,997 this year – a 28 per cent increase.

The highest number of reports during that period were made in Manchester with 5,531 incidents since 2022, which works out as 9.7 reports per 1,000 people in the city. However, the rate of reports per population was higher in six other boroughs in the city-region.

At 11.3 reports per 1,000 people, Rochdale had the highest rate, followed by Tameside on 11 and Bolton, Oldham and Salford, all with stalking rates of more than 10. Wigan had a rate of 9.6 incident per 1,000 people over the last three years while Bury’s rate was 7.4.

The lowest rate of stalking recorded in Greater Manchester was in Trafford where 1,373 reports were made over the last three years, giving the borough a rate of 5.8. This was followed by Stockport where 1,935 reports were made during that period – a rate of 6.5.

It comes as stalking victims are about to be granted the right to know the identity of their online abusers. Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said the proposed ‘right to know’ statutory guidance aims to tell victims the identity of their abuser at the earliest opportunity.

The guidance was inspired by former Coronation Street actor Nicola Thorp, who was stalked and abused online for months by an unknown man who called himself ‘the Grim Reaper’. Nicola, who was bombarded by a constant stream of violent and misogynistic messages from almost 30 social media accounts set up by her stalker, has been working with the government to give victims the right to know who their online stalkers are after police told her they could not reveal the Grim Reaper’s identity even after he was arrested.

That was despite the stalker once saying he had got so close to her on a train that he ‘could smell’ her. Nicola’s stalker – whose true identity was only revealed to her once he appeared in court – is now serving a 30-month prison sentence with a lifetime restraining order.

Nicola said: “For too long, stalking victims have been at the mercy not only of their stalker, but a justice system that failed to protect them. These new measures will empower victims to regain some much-needed control of their lives and police to bring abusers to justice.”

Since stalking became a specific offence in 2012, crime reports have increased every year, up to a record 132,000 in the year ending June 2024.

That was 40 times higher than when the offence first appeared in crime data in 2015, 10 times higher than in 2018 and a 12 per cent increase in the last year.

Offences also more than doubled during the pandemic – when lockdown restrictions meant online social media was the only form of communication available for many – rising from 46,000 crime reports in the year ending June 2020 to 109,000 a year later.

However, police figures show that stalking is far more likely to be reported in some parts of the country than others. Over the last three years, there have been 3,666 stalking reports in Stoke-on-Trent and 2,085 in Middlesbrough.

That is far fewer than Birmingham (9,001), Leeds (8,187), and Bradford (6,239), the three areas with the highest number of reports during that time. But those three cities are much bigger and have larger population sizes.

Compared to the size of the population, the number of offences recorded in Stoke-on-Trent and Middlesbrough amounts to the equivalent of 14.1 crime reports for every 1,000 people in both areas. That is a higher rate of offending than in Birmingham (7.8), Leeds (10.0), Bradford (11.3), or anywhere else in the country – and shows people are far more likely to be preyed on by a stalker in Stoke-on-Trent and Middlesbrough.

Stalking is defined as fixated, obsessive, unwanted and repeated behaviour that makes the victim feel pestered and harassed. Under a raft of new measures unveiled by the Home Office, police will be empowered to release an online stalker’s identity at the “earliest opportunity.”

Among a raft of new measures, the Home Office says it will also make Stalking Protection Orders more widely available. These can ban stalkers from going within a certain distance of their victim or contacting them and can also compel them to attend a perpetrator programme to address the causes of their behaviour.

Currently, these protections can only be granted by the courts if the police apply for them. In the future, courts will be given the power to impose Stalking Protection Orders directly at conviction or even at acquittal if there is enough evidence to suggest the victim is still at risk.