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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/inside-clinic-treating-britains-worst-2070467
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Dr Farnham says: âFor delusional patients, the therapy comes alongside closely monitored medication to treat the underlying psychiatric issues.
âThat doesnât necessarily happen in a prison. Itâs a big step forward that the law has finally recognised the severity of stalking as a crime, but also _understands the need for treatment.
âStalking can be a symptom of many serious problems including _schizophrenia, depression and even autism. _Medical attention is often a better option than prison for the _offender, the victim and the public.â
Treatment at the clinic costs £6,000 for six months. Sending a person to jail for the same period costs more than four times as much.
It sounds like a no-brainer, but the clinic is still in a pilot phase, _commissioned on a case-by-case basis by the Crown Prosecution Service. Each case must have displayed âpersistent and unwanted attention which causes fear in the victimâ.
Dr Farnham calls 40-year-old Michael a âdelusional romanticâ. But there is no romance involved with patients like these. In fact, sometimes they can be the most persistent.
âPatients like Michael are _completely delusional and have no idea the _relationship with the victim isnât real,â says Dr Farnham.
âItâs known as eroto-mania. They _account for around 10 to 15 per cent of the offenders we see here.â
Part of Michaelâs weekly therapy is to work through why he feels he is in a relationship, which he insists is going well because she has been sending him âsignsâ that show she loves him.
A billboard near his home has _recently changed from advertising cars to Lynx aftershave. Michael is adamant his victim arranged it as a message for him to keep trying to win her affections. He also spotted a familiar number plate on his way to work one day and insisted sheâd planted it as a token of her love. But when asked when his stalking is going to stop, Michael answers: âThe path of true love never runs smooth.â
Dr Farnham insists that for patients like him, the clinic really is a last chance to get past their problems. But the _largest number of stalkers at the clinic are _offenders like Richard.
He was prescribed nine months of weekly therapy sessions under the conditions of a community order after being convicted of stalking his ex last year. He falls into the category Dr _Farnham calls rejected lovers.
He says: âThey are often very angry about the end of the relationship and will do anything to get their partner back.â
Richard started by leaving a bunch of flowers on his victimâs windscreen every day after they split. When that didnât work, he left four bunches.
When his ex ignored his calls and texts he graduated to sending a pizza delivery at the same time every evening or taxis in the middle of the night.
âTo him it was a way of getting inside her world and it was very unsettling for her,â says Dr Farnham. In a final act of anger, Richard ordered a full-sized _coffin, filled it with ping pong balls and had it delivered to her house. It was supposed to shock her, but the message was very clear: if I canât have you no one can.
Dr Farnham explains there is usually little physical threat from most stalkers, but a minority do go on to commit sexual assault, GBH or even murder.
âSexual predators are the most _dangerous category of offender and they generally still get long _sentences,â he says. âThey account for less than two per cent of our patients but their ultimate intent is to sexually assault or harm their victim. The polar opposite would be whatâs called an âincompetent suitorâ. This is usually someone quite young, or who perhaps has learning difficulties or problems with social interaction.
âThey have sexual urges but donât know how to act on them so their behaviour _becomes very intense and frightening for the victim, although they are almost
always harmless.â
Jamie, who watched his neighbours through peepholes, was brought to the clinic after being convicted of voyeurism. He was so desperate for a girlfriend that, like many incompetent suitors, he would repeatedly approach women in the street and ask for sex or a relationship. He is on the autistic spectrum and is obsessed with car manuals.
Jamie says he wanted to make a manual for having a relationship.