Police are actively monitoring more than 200 dangerous STALKERS who pose a risk to the Royal Family and other VIPs – just weeks before the King’s Coronation
- The number of stalkers posing the highest risk has almost tripled in two years
- Police were monitoring 202 individuals by the end of 2022, up from 73 in 2014
The Royal Family is facing an unprecedented threat as the number of dangerous stalkers being monitored by police reaches the highest level in almost a decade.
Police have seen the number of fanatics posing a risk to the royals and other VIPs double since 2014, with officers keeping tabs on more than 200 people.
The number of stalkers posing the highest risk has almost tripled in the last two years from five in 2020 to 13 in 2022.
Specialist officers have dealt with more than 1,000 cases since 2016, according to official figures.
The data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that police were monitoring 202 individuals by the end of 2022, up from 73 in 2014.
Police have seen the number of fanatics posing a risk to the royals and other VIPs double since 2014. Pictured: King Charles in Hamburg yesterday
The substantial increase will cause alarm ahead of the Coronation of King Charles at Westminster Abbey on May 6, when police will be on high alert.
Scotland Yard’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command refers individuals of concern to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre which monitors risks to royals, politicians and other prominent figures.
The threat posed by each person is then graded from low to high based on a ‘stalking risk profile’ by forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, which looks at their behaviour, any prior convictions and risk of violence.
Experts also look at their motivation, whether they intend to cause fear and distress or, in more serious cases, have delusions about being in a relationship with members of the Royal Family and intend to sexually assault or physically harm their victim.
The multi-agency team, which has been monitoring risk to the Royal Family since 2006, receives around 1,000 referrals a year regarding people who have engaged in ‘abnormal communications’ or attempted to make ‘inappropriate contact with prominent people in public life’.
Yesterday Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection for Scotland Yard, said: ‘This rise is alarming but I fear these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. There will always be deranged people who want to do harm to the Royal Family.
‘The difficult job for the police is determining which of them have the means and determination to actually go through with any plan.’
