More than 300 incidents of stalking were reported to Wiltshire Police last year.

Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) are a new civil power the police can use to put restrictions on suspected stalkers.

They are designed to curb stalking behaviour with a lower burden of proof needed than for a criminal conviction.

In Wiltshire, the police have applied for 14 SPOs since its introduction in January 2020. Of these 11 have been granted with two not heard and one bid rejected.

This comes as reports of stalking offences in Wiltshire have hit a record high.

Between April and December last year Wiltshire Police received 333 reports of stalking incidents.

This is a dramatic rise from the 2015 figures, where there was 22 reported incidents – a rise of more than 1,400 per cent.

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It means that in the first six months since the coronavirus pandemic hit, stalking was reported twice a day on average.

Deputy chief constable of Wiltshire Police, Paul Mills, who is also the national lead for Stalking and Harassment said the force is committed to bringing stalkers to justice and to protect victims.

"We continue to work with victim groups and others to improve our response to this issue," he added.

"We have updated the training and guidance to officers and there are specialists in each force who are responsible for improving standards.

"This new training and changes to the way we record crime, where we will still take a detailed report even if there is no information which can identify a suspect, go some way to explaining the increase in offences.

"In addition, we have focused in the last two years on increasing the reporting of stalking offences and are now better able to understand the prevalence of these types of offending.

"We continue to work with the CPS to bring about an improvement in the prosecution rate for these offences."