A DERANGED prisoner tormented Home Office Minister Jess Phillips by stalking her from behind bars.
Ms Phillips recently shared her frightening experience of dealing with a dangerous inmate while introducing a new measure that extends stalking protection orders to incarcerated individuals.
She highlighted encountering numerous instances where individuals serving time for harming a former partner continued to stalk and harass them through digital platforms.
Asked how being stalked by a prisoner affected her, Ms Phillips said: “I think that for most victims, what you try and do is diminish it at first.
As a public figure, Ms Phillips acknowledged the burden of being a target for unwanted attention that can escalate and take a toll on one’s well-being.
“I’m a person with quite a lot of power. These crimes are usually about power and control.”
Ms Phillips, who has campaigned for decades on violence against women and girls, said her stalker was able to write letters to her and make contact from prison.
She said she took a “crestfallen” phone call from the justice secretary who apologised to her that this had been allowed to happen in the prison system.
In September, The Sun revealed police were failing to protect stalking victims in too many cases.
A major review concluded hundreds of lives could be at risk.
Watchdogs behind the report yesterday called for urgent action to improve the way police in England and Wales handle stalking cases and support victim.
They also urged a law change to make it easier to prosecute the crime.
