Former Met detective Hamish Brown MBE is an authority on stalking and catching stalkers. He spoke to Una Riley.
From the February print magazine.
He was what was known as a career detective in those days having spent most of his career in the CID working in central London. Here he gained experience in dealing with rape, murder, contract killing and other serious, sensitive investigations. We chatted at length about his career as a detective; but how you measure success in Hamish’s business is by ultimately catching the perpetrator of the crime. Hamish went on to describe some of the awful cases that he had dealt with and one I remember. A woman was abducted at knife-point by a stranger one morning as she made her way to work. She was approached by this random guy who at first tried to engage her in conversation appealing to her better nature by saying that his girlfriend was pregnant and he needed someone to sit with her while he contacted the doctor to summon help. Before long he had pulled a knife on her and forced her to accompany him to a squat where she was sexually assaulted. Her attacker then slit her throat from ‘ear to ear’ (needing more than 400 stitches). He left her in a room that he had set on fire, to destroy evidence. This was a horrific story that this brave woman made public to help other potential victims. I recall reading in the women’s press interviews with the victim and how resolute she was that the experience would not stop her living her life; she was an inspiration to all. Thankfully, as a result of a prolonged investigation, her assailant was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Hamish, the investigating officer on this case, was commended for his detective ability, tenacity and leadership. As we spoke Hamish made his own commendations of all the officers dealing on the case and above all his respect for the woman in her ordeal. As we discussed other arduous cases, Hamish recalled how he began.
Notes on car
He said: “I was stationed at Staines for some time which not only affected me but changed my life really. I came across an on-going ‘stalking’ investigation – stalking wasn’t a crime at the time. It involved a succession of anonymous notes left for a young lady. She came across these notes on her car and she had no idea who was leaving these communications … 65 in all, over three months. This young woman was attending college doing a business studies course and worked part-time at a burger bar. One of the notes I remember to this day was ‘you and I are going to die; you will be the most famous victim and I will be the most famous stalker in the world’. The notes were signed sometimes Mr Bad-Guy and sometimes Mr Stalker but most times it read ‘who am I’? He also sent her a map with a local radius with her house coloured in and a message saying…"where am I". This was too much and I could see that it was potentially very serious indeed.” I asked if this incident was after the Merlin Nuttall case and Hamish confirmed that it was. Whilst Hamish had dealt with other rapes and murders the sheer sadistic nature of the Merlin case must have weighed heavy on his mind and from talking to him it seemed like a time in his life when he would have been psychologically geared up from that awful experience and may have been the reason for his absolute focus on this female (victim) related crime. Hamish went on: “With this case I put on a small surveillance team with her permission and we followed her intermittently, alas, it could not be 24-7 due to the sheer practicalities of life but we followed her to college due to the fact that he had intimated in his notes that he was with her through the day … in fact he was at a different university. Whilst we were watching her car we noted a guy in the car park. He went in and out of the college … but what he was doing was looking in adjacent windows to where her classes were. If an inconspicuous incident occurred such as someone dropping a pencil, little things like that, he would mention this in the note and it appeared that he was with her all the time. We caught him putting a note on the car and arrested him. It transpired that he had worked at the same burger bar with the victim. No relationship, he had become infatuated with her, she left the company and he continued (in his mind) the relationship. This was in March 1997 before the anti-stalking legislation came in later in the year. The offence we could have proved was threatening behaviour which was a £100 fine, which was a joke of course! So I brought one of the first charges of grievous bodily harm … to the mind. This was due to the psychological effect it had on the victim. We also tracked down a previous girl to whom he had done the same. We did him for GBH to one and ABH to another and he got four and a half years.” Hamish added: “I have to say that when I got back to the office I was commended for that job and everyone wanted to buy me a drink on the strength of it … but what you have to remember is what these girls go through.”
Project
So was that the start of the Stalker project? I asked. He said: “Well more or less, I went back to central London, West End Central to be exact and by chance I was on the train travelling in to London from home and bumped into a mate of mine from south London. As we travelled nose to nose we started to chat as you do. He asked how I was and vice versa and he said he was putting in for a police research awards scheme. Which consisted more or less of think of a subject, research it and come up with a product … he was going to do something on computers or something like that. I said that sounds interesting. Then it came to me in a flash …I thought, why don’t I do a guide for police undertaking stalking offences? I rang up the Home Office and said, ‘I don’t have an O Level to my name and this is not my bag but how about this as an idea?’ As soon as I explained my proposition they said they liked the idea, so I spent a few weeks doing the application form and as I went along gathering the research it was clear that no one had touched this subject before. Even the librarian at Scotland Yard said, Hamish, I will search for you but I will give you the answer now that this subject has not been touched upon before because everything goes through my department. Regardless of her certainty she searched and the result confirmed her initial feelings that this project had not been done before.”
Investigation guide
The initiative went ahead, and the guide published. ‘The Stalking Investigation Guide’ guides officers on how to deal with harassment offences, and advise victims. One of Hamish’s favourite quotes and a compliment indeed was from a DAC who after reading the document with its practical lay-out with bullet-point format was, ‘Do you know what, if I had to meet a victim of stalking I could pick up your guide an hour before and after reading it I would be able to deal with the case.’ I said that it shows what can be achieved through seeking a workable solution rather than an academic approach. Hamish said: "Let’s just say it came more from the heart than the brain and in the same vein I made sure that this document was never made confidential or restricted so that it did not either get locked in a safe or put on the shelf in a governor’s office. This crime is one of the fastest growing in the country and whilst we have the best stalking law in the world, what we don’t have is the best attitude towards the issue.” I agree. Hamish believes an overworked police force requires more training to recognise stalking warning signs early. He is also disappointed that the vacancy left by his retirement from the Met in 2004 has not been directly filled.
Deadly serious
Is the current law enough? Prime Minister, Tony Blair, appeared on BBC TV’s Breakfast with Frost in January 2000 and stated, ‘We are now considering electronic tagging for domestic violence and stalking cases’. However, like most of these media hot-topic initiatives, this proposal – and another the same year by the Home Office to introduce a stalkers’ register – was later dropped as unworkable. Hamish believes the key problem is one of perception. I suppose the most infamous stalking incident as far as the public was concerned was when John Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980. It was then that it became clear that stalking was deadly serious. Celebrities David Beckham, Richard Gere, Martina Hingis, JK Rowling and many more have all been subjected to persistent stalkers. Famous names make the biggest headlines – the murder of the TV presenter Jill Dando in April 1999 was probably the most appalling example in the UK. But the victims of stalking are not limited to celebrities. Some 40,203 people were prosecuted in the five years after the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The British Journal of Psychiatry reported that one in ten people had experienced some form of stalking. Those stats concerned me so I thought I would conduct my own research. I simply went into my general office. Of the six present I asked, has anyone here had a stalker? To my surprise two female staff members answered yes. After I listened to the stories I discovered they fitted exactly the pattern of Leicester University research which found that the majority of stalking victims are female (86 per cent) and known to their tormentors (90pc). The top three stalking behaviours are: unsolicited telephone calls; spying on the victim; and threatening to commit suicide. Less common, but still relatively frequent, stalking behaviours included breaking into the victim’s home, and sexual assault. Still less common methods included defamation of character and identity theft. Typically, stalkers will employ a range of tactics and will only very rarely engage in a single stalking activity. Is it any wonder that many victims suffer afterwards from anxiety, depression and sleeplessness, and a fear and distrust of people? Hamish and I discussed this issue further including workplace harassment. It is obvious that Hamish has done a lot of ground work but there is more to be done. I asked him what he wanted to see for the future.
Public awareness
He said: “I want to influence the police more. Although I do a lot of talks to the police and speak at conferences where police attend there is more to be done. At one conference a police officer came up to me afterwards and said, every police officer should hear this talk; and that is what I would like to do. I would like to reach out nationally. I would also like public awareness in the workplace. We have discussed the many scenarios. Stalking and harassment can be in a workplace, the schoolyard, university or just going to the shop … it can also be at home behind closed doors. We have to educate people to come forward and not accept what they at first might find inconsequential until you start asking if they have started changing their life due to harassment of one sort or another. The answer is always that they have changed either by taking a different route home or no longer visiting their favourite club or leisure venue just in case they might meet the person harassing them … that is unacceptable and that is the education programme that I would like to see rolled out … we have to let people know how serious it is … and that there is help available.”
Hamish is among invited speakers at the ASIS European security conference in Nice from April 24 to 26.
Also: the Suzy Lamplugh Trust www.suzylamplugh.org.uk
