Sussex Police boss criticises stalking-themed Thortful and Etsy Valentine’s Day cards

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Katy Bourne has criticised two gift companies for selling stalking-themed Valentine’s Day cards.
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Mrs Bourne, who is the national stalking lead for the Association of PCCs, tweeted at Thortful and Etsy on Tuesday (February 9), accusing the brands of using stalking as a joke.

Herself a victim of stalking, Mrs Bourne tweeted: “Please do not use stalking as a form of a joke on your valentine’s cards out of respect for the thousands of victims living in fear of this awful crime.”

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The cards included images from the Netflix series You, which focuses on a stalker named Joe who eventually kidnaps and murders young women.

Sussex PCC Katy BourneSussex PCC Katy Bourne
Sussex PCC Katy Bourne

They featured phrases such as ‘Stalker is a strong word, I prefer Valentine’ and ‘You say stalker, I say devoted’.

A spokesman for Thortful responded on Twitter and apologised for any offence caused, adding the card would be removed ‘with immediate effect’.

Mrs Bourne thanked the company for acting swiftly.

She said: “By normalising stalking in this way we are risking taking ten steps back in terms of public perception of this all-consuming, truly devastating crime.

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“Valentine’s Day is about celebrating all love and I want it made clear that stalking is never a display of love or affection.

“Stalkers have deep rooted and complex psychological problems and their display of fixated, obsessive, unwanted and repeated behaviours takes over and destroys the lives of their victims.

“We have seen how this crime can fatally escalate and it should never be treated as some sort of joke.

“I hope that all retailers will now appropriately censor the products that they stock and remove any of these types of cards from their websites and shelves.”

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Etsy has not publicly responded to Mrs Bourne’s tweet but as of today (February 12) still has dozens of stalking-themed Valentine’s Day cards on its website.

The company has been approached for comment.

Reports of stalking and harassment in Sussex have gone up by 48 per cent over the last 12 months, underpinned by a 75 per cent surge in cyber-stalking.

We spoke to a stalking victim from Sussex who was harassed relentlessly by her abusive ex-partner, who was also the father of her child, co-signer on her mortgage and work colleague. Read more here: Sussex mum reveals terrifying stalking ordeal as cases soar: ‘I didn’t know who I was anymore’