WE WELCOME wholeheartedly Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd’s calls to strengthen our laws surrounding stalking.

He is quite right when he says that stalking should be made a specific offence.

And we cannot for one minute understand why this is not the case already.

In so many cases the harassment, which is intolerable enough for victims, often leads to violence.

It can result in months, sometimes years, of misery.

There have been some totally dreadful examples over the years.

Yet according to Mr Llwyd fewer than three per cent of cases end in a custodial sentence.

This is because our laws do not define stalking as a specific crime.

So despite potentially hundreds complaints to the police about harassment, the stalker gets off scot-free.

This cannot be justified.

These people are often dangerous and should be treated as such.

Stalking can ruin people’s lives and it is about time this offence was treated seriously.

Scotland has already created a stand-alone stalking law.

It is about time that we in England and Wales did the same and we urge the Home Office to act now.