The amount of people being stalked in Enfield has almost tripled in five years, figures show.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, Enfield Police revealed that there have been 6,167 cases of harassment in the borough since April 2010.

The number of harassment reports soared from 622 in 2010 to 1,691 in 2014, a 170 per cent rise.

In addition, the first three months of 2015 have seen 448 incidents of harassment reported - the highest number during the first three months of any of the past five years.

The request shows that the number of cases has been going up year-on-year by an average of 267.

September 2014 saw 176 cases of harassment reported to the police, the highest of any individual month in the past five years.

According to further figures released by the Crime Survey for England and Wales, stalking affects one in six women and one in 12 men.

The majority of stalkers are known to their victims either as ex-partners or acquaintances but some are stalked by complete strangers.

Around 80 per cent of stalkers are male but they and their victims can be of either gender, and most will experience more than once incident before reporting it to the police.

Enfield Police have yet to make a comment.