TORT

A civil claim for harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, s 3 can only arise as a remedy for conduct amounting to a breach of s 1 of the Act which, by virtue of s 2, would also amount to a criminal offence.

What constitutes the boundary between unattractive and unreasonable conduct, and oppressive and unacceptable conduct might well depend on the context in which the conduct occurred. The touchstone is whether the conduct was of such gravity as to justify the sanction of criminal law.