Latest news with #Stalking
The Review Geek
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror Review – One woman's thirteen-year nightmare
Season 1 Episode Guide Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Nearly a third of women and one-sixth of men will experience stalking at some point in their lives. This means millions of people across the world carry the uncomfortable trauma of being watched, followed and harassed. To make matters worse, only 1.4% of reported case (at least in the UK) end in conviction. Stalking and harassment is a growing and ever-present (for lack of a better word) societal problem. This troubling backdrop forms the crux of Hulu's latest docu-series, Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror. As the title may allude, this documentary centers on a young woman called Samantha, who winds up terrified, harassed and eventually kidnapped by an unhinged guy called Christopher. Initially presenting himself as a socially awkward recluse at school, Christopher went out of his way to stalk and harass Samantha over the years, growing ever-bolder and more uncomfortable as time goes on. All of this eventually leads to the worst possible outcome. For Samantha, she manages to get closure for her story, but for many others that's not the case. The three episodes here document Samantha's harrowing ordeal, with the first giving a background into Samantha and Christopher's past, how they crossed paths and the beginning of the stalking. It starts as a bit of a joke between Samantha and her friends as Christopher persistently messages. Unfortunately, there's nothing funny about his behaviour, as it slowly gets worse. The second episode is where Samantha's kidnapping comes into view, and she goes into shocking detail about how she was grabbed in the middle of the night, bundled in her own car and taken to a secluded bunker. Eventually, this story culminates into the third and final chapter, where we see the mounting evidence against Christopher come to the foreground, as well as a couple of surprise inclusions. One of those includes the surprise of another woman who was stalked and harassed by Christopher, called Kelli. Her inclusion is necessary for this story but it's also oddly edited into the story. She only has a few words to say and she shows up midway through episode 3, almost like an afterthought despite how important she is to the backstory and mindset of Christopher's actions. We also don't really see anything of Christopher's family outside of a few recorded phone calls with his mother. However, this is very much a documentary designed to give Samantha a voice to tell her story, and in that respect, the show succeeds. On that same note though, I can't help but feel the docuseries missed a trick by not expanding out to the widespread problem of stalking in society, how damaging that can be to someone's life, and the ongoing struggles that this legally presents to different courts. Even just some legal understanding over how restraining orders aren't always dished out or how hard it is to prove stalking would have helped give this documentary a bit more weight. Stalking Samantha is nicely paced though and at only 3 episodes, there's enough here to prevent this one from dragging its heels. The story itself features a ton of evidence and a lot of archival footage, blending in with re-enactment scenes blurred and done tastefully so it never feels exploitative. There are also videos from police interviews, CCTVs outside the bunker and police cams from raiding Christopher's house. All of this works well to flesh out more of the story, and the reveals hit that much harder as a result. Ultimately, Stalking Samantha plays out as a cautionary tale, retelling one woman's awful ordeal and how, despite justice being served, she may never heal from the scars Christopher has left.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Flawed domestic violence tool leaves women at mercy of abusers
More than 50 women have been murdered after police relied on a 'deeply flawed' screening tool that failed to identify them as high-risk, The Telegraph can reveal. For 16 years, officers and social workers have used a risk assessment called Dash – short for Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour-Based Violence – to decide which victims get urgent protection. Since Dash was introduced in 2009, women reporting abuse have been asked 27 questions by police officers and social workers to gauge the likelihood of imminent harm or death at the hands of their abuser. The checklist asks whether the perpetrator has ever used a weapon, threatened to kill, or attempted to strangle, choke, suffocate or drown the victim. SafeLives, the charity behind Dash, says victims must answer 'yes' to at least 14 questions to be classed as 'high risk' and guaranteed urgent intervention. Scores of nine to 13 mean 'medium' risk, while fewer than nine is 'standard' – but neither of these lower grading guarantees women automatic specialist support. Practitioners may use 'professional judgment' to override low scores and are instructed to escalate cases after three or more police callouts in a year. But academics and bereaved families told The Telegraph that these safeguards can fail, with fatal results. The Telegraph's investigation links at least 55 femicides, the intentional murder of women because of their gender, to the assessment. A data scientist behind a rival tool warned that the true toll could top 400 deaths. On Saturday, bereaved families likened the scandal to Horizon, the Post Office IT system that destroyed lives while officials looked away. The investigation raise questions over Labour's announcement, now expected next month, on how it will deliver its manifesto pledge to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade. Alicia Kearns MP, the shadow safeguarding minister, demanded ministers order an 'urgent' review of Dash, warning: 'We cannot gamble with the safety of women and girls. Too many have died without help as the Dash system failed to recognise the true threat they faced.' It comes as Freedom of Information figures lay bare how deeply embedded Dash remains in the UK. Three years after the National Police Chiefs' Council ordered forces to adopt a new tool to detect coercive control, more than half – 24 of 43 – have yet to switch. For years police knew Dash was failing. In 2016, the College of Policing said Dash was unfit for front-line use. Standing Together, a domestic violence charity, found that domestic homicide reviews showed victims had been killed after scoring an average of eight ticks, not the 14 needed for urgent support. In 2019, Manchester University researchers concluded 'officer risk predictions based on Dash are little better than random'. In 2022, academics from Manchester and Seville found Dash 'performs poorly at identifying high-risk victims', wrongly classifying more than 96 per cent as standard or medium risk. But although problems with Dash were widely known among researchers in the criminal justice sector, bereaved families whose loved ones were wrongly graded 'low' or 'medium' – or had 'high risk' status delayed – are only now discovering that it may explain why no one intervened. Pauline Jones, 61, told The Telegraph that when she learnt her daughter Bethany Fields had been denied support prior to being killed by her ex-partner because she had been graded only 'medium' risk using a Dash checklist, the revelation 'destroys not just your heart, but your very soul'. On Aug 9 2019, the 21-year-old told police that Paul Crowther had threatened to kill her. She gave a statement and an officer completed a Dash form. He ticked 'yes' to only nine questions, grading her at 'medium' risk. A month later Crowther stabbed her to death in the street. Ms Jones said: 'When you lose your only child in such horrendous circumstances, you don't think you could be any more devastated. But then you hear about the Dash, and you know your daughter's death was so easily preventable. It destroys not just your heart, but your very soul.' She asked: 'If a person is articulate and coherent enough to give their own statement, why are they not involved in the Dash risk assessment process?' Data released in response to freedom of information requests reveal that Bethany's case is far from isolated. Since 2019, reviews of domestic homicides in just 10 police force areas found that 55 women were killed by partners after being graded only 'standard' or 'medium' risk. More than half of these women, 36 in total, were assessed three or more times without ever being raised to 'high risk', while nine were killed having only ever been given the lowest risk score. Ba Linh Le, the co-founder and chief data officer at Frontline, a Berlin firm that has developed a rival AI-powered risk tool, said the findings matched their own estimates but that the real figure could be far higher. She said: 'The Telegraph's data covers fewer than a quarter of police forces and Dash had been in use for a decade before 2019, so the true number of women killed after being marked 'low' or 'medium' risk using a Dash checklist could exceed 400.' Across the 10 forces with available data on Dash scores for domestic homicides going back six years, 113 victims died after at least one assessment. Fifty-eight were classed 'high risk' at some point, but some were later downgraded before being killed. Natalie Saunders, 33, was murdered by Stephen Charlton in October 2018 after Cleveland Police repeatedly graded her as being at 'medium' risk. Her parents told The Telegraph they believe that earlier intervention could have saved her life. Barbara Saunders, 67, said: 'She's never been medium risk, in none of them. In not one assault, she's not been medium.' The only time officers rated her 'high risk' was when she briefly escaped her abuser and called the police. In the recording, shared with The Telegraph, she said she was 'covered in marks' from being 'battered' and wanted to report his violence. 'I think he might do something, like, to me,' she told the handler. 'I'm really worried.' A month later, on Aug 24, police carried out another Dash. Again she was scored 'medium'. On Oct 7, Charlton strangled her to death in her own home. Prof Jane Monckton-Smith, a former police officer and one of the UK's leading forensic criminologists specialising in domestic homicide, told The Telegraph: 'It is time for the concerns around Dash to be taken seriously. There's no rationale for the 14 'yes' ticks that lead to a high-risk grading.' It can also be revealed that, in May, the Home Office paid SafeLives an undisclosed sum to review how police and social services assess risk in domestic abuse cases. A department spokesman said the project is about 'making sure the police are supported with the right training and tools to identify offences and protect victims, and risk is correctly assessed to identify the level of risk posed to victims'. They added that the work will 'inform new government guidance on domestic abuse victims' risk and needs, which will be published this autumn'. Conflict of interest When The Telegraph raised the apparent conflict of interest in funding the charity that created Dash to scrutinise it, the Home Office clarified that the tool had been deliberately excluded from the review. However, SafeLives confirmed that they had surveyed stakeholders on their views of the tool as part of the review, saying: 'Of course we want to know what professionals think about Dash. We want to know what is and isn't working, because that is the basis of our recommendations to Government.' Ms Kearns called it 'farcical' for ministers to let SafeLives review how risk is assessed in domestic violence cases, and questioned how the Home Office could justify excluding Dash from scrutiny. She said: 'Something isn't adding up – SafeLives admitted to reviewing Dash, but now insist, along with the Home Office, that they are not. That leaves two options: either ministers are failing to review Dash, which is preposterous, or they have made the farcical decision to let SafeLives review their own work. 'Ministers must come clean and if they deliberately excluded Dash from this review, must independently review it or end its use. 'The families of murdered women deserve answers, and ministers must act urgently. I fear a national scandal born of a deeply flawed system that has denied vulnerable women life-saving support simply because they did not tick enough boxes on a checklist.' Families of women who died after being wrongly graded 'low' or 'medium' risk have also attacked the Home Office for awarding SafeLives a role in a separate £53 million project called DRIVE to target high-risk perpetrators with counselling. Mrs Saunders said the project was 'wrong' and wouldn't work. 'You can't change them, you can't. I don't care what anyone says,' she said. 'You can't say they were going from what they were doing to someone, to another relationship, and they're going to be lovey-dovey. I don't think so.'
BreakingNews.ie
14-07-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Man (20s) charged over alleged stalking incident in Dublin
A man in his 20s has been charged over an incident of Stalking/Harassment at premises on Harcourt Street in Dublin in March. He is due to appear before Dublin District Court at the Criminal Courts of Justice on Monday. Advertisement Gardaí attached to Kevin Street Garda Station investigating an alleged incident of stalking/harassment that occurred at a premises on Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 arrested the man. He was detained for questioning at a Garda Station in Dublin following a search at a residential address.
