If you have been accused of harassment, one of the most important things you can do is avoid making the situation worse by trying to resolve the allegation yourself. Do not repeatedly contact the person who has made the allegation to explain your actions, apologise, ask what they have told the police or persuade them to withdraw their complaint. Further contact could itself become part of the evidence.
Instead, you should preserve your messages, call records, emails and social media conversations and seek legal advice, particularly if the police have contacted you or asked you to attend an interview.
Harassment allegations often involve a series of incidents rather than one event. The police may be looking at messages sent over several weeks or months, contact following the end of a relationship, telephone calls, visits to someone’s home or workplace, or allegations that contact continued after somebody had asked for it to stop. The context and chronology can therefore be extremely important.
Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, harassment generally requires a course of conduct involving at least two occasions. However, two messages or two instances of contact do not automatically mean that a harassment offence has been committed. The prosecution must establish that the conduct amounted to harassment and that you knew, or ought to have known, that it did.
In practice, one of the first things we look at is what actually happened between the people involved rather than viewing individual messages in isolation. When did the contact start? Was communication continuing in both directions? When was the person accused first told that contact was unwanted? What happened afterwards? The answers can be important when assessing the allegation.
What is the criminal offence of harassment?
The principal harassment offences are contained in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. A person must not pursue a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another person and which they know, or ought to know, amounts to harassment. The test includes considering whether a reasonable person with the same information would consider that the conduct amounted to harassment.
Harassment can include behaviour that causes alarm or distress. A course of conduct must involve behaviour on at least two occasions, although it does not have to involve exactly the same behaviour each time.
For example, an allegation could concern a combination of messages, telephone calls, face-to-face contact and online activity. The question is whether those incidents, considered together, establish the necessary course of conduct.
Stop contacting the person who has accused you
If someone has made it clear that they do not want you to contact them, continuing to message or approach them can make your position significantly more difficult.
This includes indirect contact, such as asking a friend to pass on a message, creating another social media account or using a different telephone number.
There can be more complicated situations following a relationship breakdown where some communication appears necessary because there are children, property or financial matters to resolve. Depending on the circumstances, it may be appropriate for communication to take place in a different way or through another person.
You should take advice rather than assuming that a legitimate reason for wanting to communicate means that repeated direct contact is appropriate.
Do not delete messages or social media evidence
An allegation of harassment can depend heavily on context. A screenshot showing several messages sent by one person can look very different when compared with a complete conversation showing communication in both directions. Equally, a conversation that initially appears mutual may change once one person clearly asks the other to stop contacting them.
In practice, we will often want to establish the complete chronology, i.e. when contact took place, what prompted it, how the other person responded and whether and when they made it clear that further contact was unwanted.
Do not delete WhatsApp conversations, text messages, emails, call records or social media activity because you are concerned about how they might look. You should preserve the complete material so that your solicitor can assess it in context.
What if the police ask me to attend a voluntary interview?
A voluntary police interview is still an interview under caution. What you say can become evidence even though you have not been arrested.
People sometimes assume that because they know they did not intend to harass somebody, the best approach is simply to attend the police station and explain everything.
The difficulty is that harassment allegations are often built around a series of communications or incidents rather than one event. Before advising somebody in interview, we will usually want to understand what conduct the police are relying upon and consider it against the wider history and any evidence that has been preserved.
You are entitled to free independent legal advice at a police interview. A criminal defence solicitor can obtain information about the allegation, discuss it with you and advise you before questioning begins.
What if there is another explanation for the contact?
Harassment cases can be highly fact-specific. A complainant may say that contact was persistent and unwanted, while the person accused may say that conversations continued in both directions. There may be disagreement about when a relationship ended, whether contact was invited or why particular messages were sent.
That does not mean an allegation should be dismissed because there are two different accounts. Equally, an accusation does not establish that a criminal offence has been committed.
We look at the complete chronology rather than individual messages in isolation. This may include whether communication was mutual, when the complainant asked for contact to stop and what happened afterwards. Call records, messages, CCTV, social media activity and witness evidence may provide additional context.
What happened after someone was clearly told that contact was unwanted can be particularly important. Continuing to make contact after that point may place earlier communications in a different context.
What if my mental health affected my behaviour?
If a mental health condition may be relevant to what happened, tell your solicitor. A mental health condition does not automatically provide a defence to harassment. However, medical evidence may be relevant to the circumstances surrounding the alleged conduct, your ability to participate effectively in a police interview or proceedings and, depending on the circumstances, how the case is dealt with.
Do not assume that the police will already have access to relevant medical information.
Can a harassment allegation be defended?
Yes; the appropriate defence will depend on what is alleged and the evidence available.
There are some situations where conduct that might otherwise appear to be harassment may have a lawful explanation. For example, there may be a defence if the contact was necessary to prevent or detect a crime, was required by law, or was reasonable in the circumstances. Whether any of these defences applies will depend on the facts of the individual case.
Other cases may turn on whether there was a course of conduct at all, whether the behaviour legally amounted to harassment or whether you knew or ought to have known that it did.
This is why the evidence surrounding the allegation can be so important. The issue is usually about more than how many messages were sent. The content, timing, circumstances and wider course of communication may all need to be considered.
What should I do if I have been accused of harassment?
Do not assume that an allegation will disappear if you explain yourself directly to the complainant. You should avoid further unnecessary contact and preserve the evidence you already have.
If the police contact you, it is important that you obtain legal advice before attending an interview or providing an account.
Our criminal defence solicitors can examine the allegation and available evidence, advise you before a police interview and represent you if you are charged with a harassment offence.
Early advice can also help you understand what you should and should not do while an investigation is ongoing, particularly where there are continuing practical reasons why you and the complainant may otherwise need to communicate.
About the author
Stuart Matthews is a Founding Partner, Solicitor-Advocate and Head of Private Crime at Reeds Solicitors. He represents clients facing serious and sensitive allegations, including harassment, sexual offences and allegations arising from relationships or communications between individuals. Stuart advises clients from the pre-charge stage and police investigation through to criminal proceedings, and also represents university students accused of sexual harassment at work in disciplinary proceedings alongside related police investigations.
If you are facing an allegation of harassment, obtaining legal advice at an early stage can make a significant difference. Our specialist defence solicitors can help.
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