Lina Tantash [2019] EWCA Crim 1180

The appellant was convicted after summary trial of two offences of stalking and was committed to the crown court for sentence. For the two offences of stalking involving serious alarm or distress she was sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment on each to run concurrently.

The first offence involved a man with whom she had a brief relationship and became obsessive, he moved from Ireland to Brighton to get away from her and she began to harass a female who she thought was in a relationship with him. In the region of 20,000 emails were sent to him over the years, she turned up at events, sent food to an open event at the school he worked at, she made numerous threatening calls to the lady she thought he was involved with saying she was going to kill her. The victim described the thousands of phone calls and how he had struggled to function on a personal and professional basis. The applicant had hacked into his voicemails, he had moved several times to escape her and suffered from depression and anxiety.

The Recorder concluded that the starting point for a category 1A offence was 5 years, with discount for good character and the surrounding circumstances he reduced it to 4 years.

The renewed application was based on a psychiatric report, also relevant was that the offending straddled the commencement date for an increased maximum sentence (from 5 to 10 years). The report stated the applicant was on the autistic spectrum and although mild was likely to affect her ability to manage relationships. The Court rejected the arguments saying that this was not a mental disorder likely to alter the conclusions under the guideline, both experts had said this was a highly capable person and that her condition was mild. The fact that the offending straddled the relevant commencement date meant that the increased maximum applied. The application was refused.