harassment

• Protection from Harassment Act 1997

  -s1 prohibits 'harassment' of another person

  -s3; defined as a tort
• meaning of harassment


  -includes alarming or causing distress (s7(2))

  -must involve conduct in at least 2 occasions (s7(3))

  -behaviour must be inappropriate and unacceptable
• Wilkinson v Downton rule:

  -trespass torts all require direct interference with the specific freedom protected
• Wilkinson v Downton

  • d falsely told c that her husband had been seriously injured in an accident, as a result, c suffered severe psychological reactions
  • held that when d has wilfully committed an act or made a statement to cause physical or psychiatric harm, and the result is this, it is actionable
• Wainwright v Home Office

  • there must be at least be recklessness for the Wilkinson v Downton rule to apply
  • HOWEVER Rhodes v OPO held that there must be intent and recklessness is not sufficient
• Sube v News Group Newspaper Ltd

  • held that press conduct does not generally constitute unreasonable conduct, so harassment couldn't be found
• Mitton v Benefield

  • behaviour must be 'oppressive and unacceptable' for harassment
• Majrowski v Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust

  • the misconduct must be of an order which would sustain criminal liability under s2 of the PfHA
  • difference between unreasonable and unacceptable
• Wan-Bissaka v Bentley

  • injunction granted for privacy
  • but not for harassment as it did not pass the unacceptable and criminal threshold