Rather than being hapless eccentrics, the majority of stalkers suffer from serious psychotic illnesses, finds a study of people who stalk members of the British royal family.

The findings, which have been know for nearly two years, but were first made public at a forensic science meeting on Tuesday in Melbourne, Australia, have been instrumental in developing a new approach to reducing risks of attack on the royal family, and UK and European politicians. The approach is to direct “VIP” or star stalkers into psychiatric care.

“We didn’t expect such high rates of psychosis. It was very surprising to us,” says Paul Mullen, a forensic psychiatrist at Monash University and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health.

Mullen led the study, which was sponsored by the UK Home Office, with David James, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the North London Forensic Service.


Mullen and his colleagues scrutinised over 20,000 incidences of stalking members of the royal family, such as repeated and threatening letter writing, and repeated attempted approaches and attacks, from 1988 to 2003. The data was contained in files on 8000 people kept by the Metropolitan Police.

“Just under half were people writing letters repeatedly that were usually threatening or inappropriately amorous,” says Mullen. Over the 15-year period, 600 people managed to get close to a member of the royal family, and there were 17 attacks on staff, protection service personal or property, he says.

Drunks and pranksters

Around 3000 of the files covered incidences that were judged to be pranks, or committed by people accidentally or while they were drunk.

The Mullen team examined in detail the files of 250 of the remaining 5000 people judged to be true stalkers. About 80% had a serious psychotic illness, including schizophrenia, delusions and hallucinations, they found.

The finding contrasts sharply with people who stalk non-famous people.

“Typically a fifth of stalkers have some sort of serious or severe psychotic disorder,” says forensic psychologist Rosemary Purcell of the University of Melbourne, who has co-published a book about stalkers with Mullen.

The largest group of non-VIP stalkers are rejected lovers, who may be depressed and socially inept, but don’t usually suffer psychosis. VIP stalkers, on the other hand, appear most like a subset of stalkers called “intimacy seekers”, says Mullen. These people strive to initiate a relationship with their victims, and frequently suffer a psychotic disorder.

“Some [intimacy seekers] have erotomania, a full-blown delusional disorder, where they believe that the victim is in love with them,” says Purcell.

Therapy works

In a separate study published earlier this year, James, Mullen and their colleagues found that psychotic illness is also common among people who attack members of the royal family.

The team’s findings were vital in the development of a new strategy to combat VIP stalking. As a result, the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, a joint police and mental-health unit, was quietly set up in London by the Home Office, Metropolitan Police, and the Department of Health, two years ago on a pilot basis. James is the centre’s clinical director.

Previously, stalkers of British royalty or senior politicians were removed from the scene if they were causing a nuisance, but were not offered treatment. Now FTAC psychiatrists assess the stalkers, referring them on to mental health services if they are in need of treatment.

That strategy pays off, according to James. “After two years, our experience is that most people do not engage in stalking again – in the past it was characteristic that the behaviour was repeated,” he says.

Terrorist risk

Reducing VIP stalking is important for protecting individuals and for counterterrorism, says James. Few stalkers go on to launch attacks, but stalkers are responsible for roughly half of attacks against VIPs, including the most serious attacks.

Mullen, James and their colleagues are currently investigating ways to identify which stalkers are likely to pose a threat.

“[Stalkers] who are fixated on a cause, and have a highly personalised quest for ‘justice’, often delusional in nature, are the ones most likely to breach security, and to be carrying weapons,” says James.

Mullen says that star stalkers are an unusual group, with their characteristics determined to some extent by the nature of the prominent person.

“People who stalk royalty may show a strange mixture of affection, and the belief that they are a relative or friend or even the rightful heir. People who stalk the president of the United States are more likely to have persecutory ideas.”

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