A bit of banter, or alarming and distressing harassment?

Harassment has always been an offence of fact and degree.  Behaviour that in one context might be a joke between friends, can, in another context, form part of a course of conduct that amounts to harassment.

Never has this been more aptly demonstrated than in a recent criminal case, in which Rhiannon Evans, a 25 year-old retail worker from Caernarfon in Wales, was convicted of harassing her boyfriend’s former partner, 22 year-old Deborah Prytherch.

The conduct in question? Ms Evans sent (with “malicious intent” according to the magistrates’ court proceedings) four videos of herself smiling at the camera and farting to Ms Prytherch. Ms Pyrtherch gave evidence that after receiving the videos, she no longer felt safe in her home.

Breaking wind is a staple of comedic material for children the world over.  One might think that in a WhatsApp group of friends, videos of oneself farting and smirking at the camera would be a bit of light-hearted (and immature) fun.  In these circumstances, however, the police, CPS, and magistrate considered that it amounted to an offence of harassment contrary to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, and Ms Evans was convicted, and sentenced to a 12-month community order.  She was also ordered to pay £100 in compensation and £199 in costs.