'My stalker phoned me 600 times in two hours'

Emma Fisher's ex-partner threatened to kill her and her daughter

A woman whose ex-partner began stalking her while he was on bail over domestic abuse says the "psychological torture" was "debilitating".

Emma Fisher, from Wolverhampton, has been sharing her experience as West Midlands Police reports a rise in stalking between people who have been in an intimate relationship.

In response, the force is trialling a scheme to crack down on the behaviour.

Ms Fisher once received 600 phone calls from her stalker in two hours.

Her life and the life of her daughter were also threatened, she said.

She told the BBC: "There was psychological torture. He'd say things like 'I can see what you're wearing today' and 'that colour doesn't suit you; where are you driving to'?"

She added: "[His] calls were one after another with barely seconds in between.

"I couldn't dial 999 - there wasn't time to dial 999."

West Midlands Police is trialling an early intervention scheme in which the perpetrator would receive treatment from a psychologist.

The £200,000 programme is being funded by the office of the local police and crime commissioner following its development by Det Insp Cate Webb-Jones from West Midlands Police and psychologist Rachael Wheatley.

According to the force, stalking between intimate parties has risen 59% in the last year - from 2,234 reported cases between April and September 2020, to 3,549 reported cases for the same period in 2021.

Ms Fisher left her partner on his arrest in September 2018, with the stalking following straight away.

He killed himself in July 2019 without having faced proceedings over his actions.

Det Insp Webb-Jones developed the scheme for West Midlands Police

Det Insp Webb-Jones said: "I saw an increasing rise in stalking behaviours, and stalking behaviours are very repetitive.

"They're intrusive, they're unwanted, and while we were focusing on support for victims and improving our investigative strategy, I established that we need to focus on the stalking behaviours.

"That's because they have deeply entrenched obsessive mindsets, so what we hope is that this intervention will help the stalkers better understand themselves."

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Ms Fisher said in her case, everything was "fine for a few weeks" after her ex was arrested.

"Then gradually contact started and then ended in quite dramatic fashion in terms of intense stalking," she said.

"At its worst, it was following the car. He followed me to and from nursery, jumping out in the middle of the road to stop my car, 600 phone calls in the space of about two hours, multiple phone calls through the night.

"There were threats to kill myself, my daughter, my family - anybody that I interacted with or showed any form of affection for was potentially a target.

"He told me 'I'll do a 20-year stretch for you, no one will find you, I'll make your sister's children disappear, I'll drive a car through your house'. It was just completely debilitating."

• Help and advice can be found at BBC Action Line