A VICAR said ‘he would never go to Lancashire police for help again’ after criticising their actions when he reported being stalked by a woman.

Reverend Graham Sawyer, of Burnley, said police ‘failed him, his church and his stalker’ after first reporting his concerns about a member of his parish in November 2014.

The vicar at St James’ Church, Briercliffe, said she would make ‘literally countless’ attempts to contact him verbally and in writing and would hang around the church early ‘in an attempt to catch him on his own’.

Mr Sawyer said her actions ‘made him feel in a vulnerable position’.

But when he contacted police, he said he was ‘passed from one officer to another’ and had to speak to ‘six or seven’ different officers in total.

He said at one point he was even accused of wasting police time which was ‘totally unfounded’. Police have now apologised over their handling of the case.

The vicar said when the woman was eventually issued with a harassment notice by police in December 2015 the stalking stopped immediately.

Mr Sawyer said the handling of stalking by police in England and Lancashire now ‘needs to be addressed’.

He said he ‘bears no ill will to his stalker’ and wants to make sure nobody has to go through the situation he had to.

The Lancashire force said ‘its practices in dealing with such cases have moved on’.

Mr Sawyer said he ‘repeatedly requested help’ from police but said it was only after 13 months action was finally taken.

The 56-year-old said: “This is about the repeated failings of Lancashire police with my case.

“It’s about the way the police is handling stalking in England and in Lancashire.

“They made things exponentially worse for me, my congregation and for my stalker.

“I would never go to Lancashire police again for help after this.

“The police failed me, my church and my stalker.

“This was a terrible situation I have had and things need changing so others don’t face the same issues.

“I don’t think anyone should have to go through that.”

Police chiefs said they ‘acknowledge that the level of service provided to the victim in this instance fell short’.

The vicar said: “I bear no ill will to my stalker at all and I wish them well.

“They are getting on with their life and I am getting on with mine.

“In my opinion the police made it worse for her and needed to step in sooner.

“Everyone knows in stalking cases it is really important to intervene as soon as possible.

“This is something the police failed to do.

“Anyone running a hate campaign comes under an enormous amount of distress and a lot of negative energy.”

Mr Sawyer said his congregation halved ‘by between a half and a third’ following accusations made by his stalker about him.

This happened as she began ‘stalking by proxy’ and engaging other people to join her campaign against him and ‘do her work’.

The vicar said: “I found a mob campaign against me in my parish and one of vengeful hate. I never expected to be the object of fixation of anyone. It was horrid.”

He added his congregation was now ‘starting to recover’ and is ‘quietly growing’ following the incident.

Assistant chief constable Terry Woods, said: “While this particular case was some time ago and our practices in dealing with such cases have moved on, we acknowledge the level of service provided to the victim fell short of what could be expected and we apologise for that.”