(1)A person who, without reasonable excuse, breaches a stalking protection order or an interim stalking protection order commits an offence.
(2)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding [F1the general limit in a magistrates’ court] or to a fine or both, or
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to a fine or both.
(3)In relation to an offence committed before [F22 May 2022], the reference in subsection (2)(a) to [F3the general limit in a magistrates’ court] is to be read as a reference to 6 months.
(4)If a person is convicted of an offence under this section, it is not open to the court by or before which the person is convicted to make an order under [F4section 80 of the Sentencing Code] (conditional discharge).
(5)In proceedings for an offence under this section, a copy of the original stalking protection order or interim stalking protection order, certified by the designated officer for the court which made it, is admissible as evidence of its having been made and of its contents to the same extent that oral evidence of those things is admissible in those proceedings.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in s. 8(2)(a) substituted (7.2.2023 at 12.00 p.m.) by The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Powers) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(2), 2(1), Sch. Pt. 1
F2Words in s. 8(3) substituted (28.4.2022) by The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Commencement No. 33) and Sentencing Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/500), regs. 1(2), 5(1), Sch. Pt. 1
F3Words in s. 8(3) substituted (7.2.2023 at 12.00 p.m.) by The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Powers) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(2), 2(1), Sch. Pt. 1
F4Words in s. 8(4) substituted (1.12.2020) by Sentencing Act 2020 (c. 17), s. 416(1), Sch. 24 para. 298 (with Sch. 24 para. 447, Sch. 27); S.I. 2020/1236, reg. 2
Commencement Information
I1S. 8 in force at 20.1.2020 by S.I. 2020/26, reg. 2