THE sister of a young mother murdered by her ex-boyfriend has praised the success of stalking laws which have seen 743 offenders brought to justice.

Sarah Summers has campaigned for a change in the law since her sister Katie was stabbed to death by her ex-partner, Brian Taylor, at her home in Masefield Drive, Farnworth, in October, 2008.

She welcomed new legislation, introduced in November, 2012, which protects victims of stalking who are caused serious alarm or distress without a threat of violence.

The mother-of-four said: “This will have no doubt saved a number of lives — it’s just a shame it didn’t come in sooner.

"For Katie, unfortunately it wasn’t one specific thing that failed her, it was a number of different matters.

“Although hundreds of people have been helped, sadly it is probably only 10 per cent of the people that are suffering at the hands of a stalker.

“Domestic violence happens in a relationship but a lot of the time stalking is more sinister because you often don’t know who is doing it, so victims are even less likely to say anything.”

In 2013/14, the first full year since new laws were introduced, 743 prosecutions were brought under new stalking offences created by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 — many of which may not have been charged under previous law.

Prosecutions for all stalking and harassment offences, using both new and older legislation, increased by more than 20 per cent — from 8,648 in 2012/13, to 10,535 last year.

The 27-year-old added: “In my opinion the education needs to begin in schools — especially now with social media being so popular.

“My sister was the perfect example of a victim from being bullied at school.

“If stalking advice was handed out to us at school, maybe it would have been picked up sooner.”

Director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders said: “I am pleased that prosecutors are making effective use of new stalking laws in order to protect victims and put their stalkers before the courts.

“These new offences enable us to bring people to court potentially before they risk going on to commit more serious crimes.”