Professor Fiona Vera-Gray, one of the UK’s leading feminist academics working on sexual violence, shares her thoughts on the new harassment law and the sentencing of David Stroud
Date: 15 June 2026
On Tuesday 9 June, the first man was sentenced under a new harassment law banning harassment motivated by a person’s sex.
David Stroud, 44, made sexually motivated comments to a woman on the train to London on 3 April, two days after the new law came into force.
Stroud was on bail for stalking when he harassed the victim and was sentenced for both offences on Tuesday, receiving a 12-month community order and 150 hours of unpaid work.
‘It’s not just harmless banter’: the continuum of sexual violence
Professor Fiona Vera-Gray, one of the UK’s leading feminist academics working on sexual violence and co-director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University, shares her thoughts on this landmark case and the issues with implementing the new law.
“While this conviction should represent a step change in how the criminal justice system treats public sexual harassment, the sentence given fails to show an understanding of the significant freedom-based harms of these offences.
“Historically women and girls have been taught to dismiss the actions of men like Stroud as a joke or harmless banter, but Stroud’s history of recent stalking offences shows what we know about a continuum of sexual violence.
“Violence against women and girls in all of its forms is rarely a one-off incident. Much more often it evidences a pattern of behaviour that can stretch over many years and affect many women, including those in offender’s homes.
“That Stroud harassed an unknown woman in public space at the same time he was on bail for stalking another known woman, suggests he is a danger to all women. I’m concerned about the message his sentencing sends both to him and to men like him that go out of their way to harass, intimidate, and harm women.”
An expert analysis of the new law
“While Stroud was convicted for both sentences, it looks like the sentencing was really for the stalking and even that was concerningly lenient.”
Discussing the first charge made under the new Section 4B of the Public Order Act 1986, Fiona said: “The problem with this ‘new offence’ is that it actually isn’t a new offence at all. It provides an enhanced sentencing option on the existing 4A offence.
“But it seems here that even though it is the first conviction, that enhanced sentencing power wasn’t even used.
“The problem with the offence itself is that the harassment has to be proven as motivated on the basis of someone’s sex. That’s going to be really hard to prove if someone pleads not guilty. So we’ll have to watch this space to see how the offence works in practice.”
Professor Fiona Vera-Gray and the Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU)
Fiona teaches on London Met’s Women and Child Abuse MA within the School of Social Sciences and Professions.
Fiona is an activist, researcher, and campaigner working on violence against women and girls. She comes from a practice-based background, working for over a decade in the Rape Crisis movement before moving into academia.
London Met’s Women and Child Abuse MA is a pioneering programme equipping students with the expertise to tackle violence against women and children through policy, research, and frontline work.
The course is taught by experts from the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU). This globally recognised research centre has influenced policing, policy, and support services for over 30 years and recently won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education.
The centre recently completed research in collaboration with Durham University, commissioned by the College of Policing, on non-contact sexual offences and how they shape women’s lives and impact their freedom. Read more about this research which shaped new training and guidance for all police forces in England and Wales.