A MAN accused of stalking a 19-year-old girl has been banned from contacting his victim after an apparent three-month campaign against her.

The 25-year-old man, from Leigh, was handed a Stalking Protection Order on Tuesday during a hearing at Southend Magistrates' Court.

The man remains under police investigation on suspicion of stalking.

The order means he cannot contact the 19-year-old woman by any means, whether through her friends, family and other third parties and he cannot attend two streets and one address which she is associated with.

The interim order will remain in place for six weeks ahead of another hearing.

Southend’s Domestic Abuse Investigations Team made the application after receiving reports of criminal damage and harassment between November 21, 2019 and February 8, 2020.

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Sandford said: “This is our second successfully application since Stalking Protection Orders went live in January, with another man made subject of an order ahead of a trial for stalking in June this year.

“While both interim orders are temporary, they enhance our ability to safeguard victims while we continue our investigation and were obtained quickly and effectively.

“Interim orders are approved where the court believes it is necessary to protect someone from risk.

“I’d like to thank our officers and staff for the work they are doing in spotting the signs of stalking and protecting victims.

“We will explore every avenue to help safeguard people as they go about their day to day lives and stalking protection orders – either full or temporary – are an example of this.”

Report stalking to Essex Police by calling 999 in an emergency and 101 in a non-emergency.

You can also report information online by visiting www.essex.police.uk.