Clare Sellers
Season seven of Stacey Dooley Investigates began with a terrifying glimpse into the world of stalking. Interviews with perpetrators and victims alike paint a horrifying picture of what it’s like to live in fear of being watched at any given time, often with the inability to get real help.
Working with a specialised task force, Stacey Dooley takes a deep-dive into the situations of women currently being stalked in the UK. There are mothers and young ladies that find themselves confined to their houses, scared for their own lives and the lives of those around them. Though they seek help from police, they find getting this help to be a long process, and one that is not so easily solved at that.
“Stuck in a limbo of isolation and fear until the day they can see their stalkers behind bars”
Stalking is classed as the unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person, according to Wikipedia. But to the sullen victims Dooley spends her time with in her latest documentary, stalking is a constant burden, preventing them from living a normal life alongside their family and friends.
The heart-breaking episodes describe lives that are lived much differently than our own, led by people who are stuck in a limbo of isolation and fear until the day they can see their stalkers behind bars. As the documentary highlights, this is a task that often takes much longer than these victims would like, due to a slow build-up of evidence that leaves them with a feeling of constant underlying danger.
Dooley’s documentary demonstrates that if a stalker is sentenced to time in prison, a victim’s life may be improved temporarily. However, the prospect of their stalker’s return to civilisation looms over those days of freedom like a grey cloud promising to bring back the dread that had finally eased up.
One of the women Dooley speaks to in this series is faced with the frightening idea that her stalker could be released from prison much earlier than planned, and it is clearly a troubling thought. As the perpetrator appeals for early release, the victim is left wondering how she will go back to the anxious life she thought she had left behind.
“Victims will be faced with the release of their demons once more in what must feel like a never-ending cycle”
Though the stalker’s appeal was ultimately denied, it is a forceful reminder that none of these harassers will stay in jail forever, and at some point, all victims will be faced with the release of their demons once more in what must feel like a never-ending cycle.
One of the most disturbing parts of Dooley’s documentary is the realisation that stalkers do not seem to fit any kind of stereotype or look. The longstanding journalist speaks to various people all displaying stalker-like tendencies, and all extremely different.
Among them, an older man who has been stalking a young dancer and a pilot stalking his ex. Dooley assists the police in a raid of the older man’s place, where they find proof of his stalking and something the team finds to be unusual: handwritten notes the stalker has written to himself as if they were from the girl he was stalking.
It’s chilling to watch the old man protest the allegations and act oblivious to the charges of stalking against him. It is clear to see that Stacey Dooley struggles to process the idea of such a seemingly harmless older man being the stuff of nightmares to a woman she had spent so much time with, as do the audience.
“Rehabilitation seems to be a great next step for these perpetrators to avoid a repetitive cycle from forming.”
In a surprising twist, Dooley speaks with a pilot who had previously stalked his ex but was now receiving help to combat his stalking tendencies. This particular segment felt completely necessary after learning so much about the victims, and also allowed viewers to understand how rehabilitation seems to be a great next step for these perpetrators to avoid a repetitive cycle from forming.
As far as Stacey Dooley documentaries go, this is one for the history books. It’s a moving piece of work allowing us to learn about one of the most prevalent and fear-inducing crimes facing certain members of the public today.
Featured image courtesy of Alex Plesovskich on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
claresellers
I am a 20-year-old multimedia journalism student in my final year studying at the University of Salford
Article gives a clear understanding of stalking issues & examples.
Unfortunately this is reality for so many women today.
I also watched these episodes and find that are justice system seriously needs to be changed so victims have more of a say in sentencing.
A fantastic piece of Journalism Clare!