Hello All,

First of I'm sorry if this is the wrong place, please move the thread if it's better elsewhere.

I manage a very small esports gaming community and recently have been harrassed by an ex member who has repeatedly tried to regain access to our community and post hateful comments in the game chat over and over. As soon as we've become aware of this we've removed them and banned the account.

The problem is this individual keeps buying new copies of the game and rejoining the community to post their vile comments. We banned by IP address but as anyone knows in the IT world this is seldom successful as the user can (and has) use a VPN to circumvent the ban.

We are aware of 2 IP addresses they have used belonging to on of the big UK broadband providers. They both trace back to the same geographical area and we have every reason to believe this is correct. They also used their voice in a video made 6 months ago and the persons accent is the same for the area the IP suggested they are located.

Recently they've started posting silly abusive YouTube videos and recently posted images into the community in my name of sexual nature including parts of my identity.

I've just ignored this for a long time and not responded to any of their comments, abusive emails, videos, crude photoshops etc etc. However recently they began targeting another member who I know to be vulnerable and I've finally decided enough is enough. They have been at this for nearly a year now.

Looking at the CAB website it looks like the options I have are both civil and criminal courses. The website says 2 seperate incidents have to occur for this to be considered harrassment. We're well over that number so I have no issue there. I don't particularly want to involve the Police as I have little faith this will help and could cause the situation to become even worse. I have also been the victim of crime and found the Police to be very unhelpful and make the situation much worse.

I fully believe this individual who resides in the UK has my home address and I don't particularly want £100s of Pizza cash on delivery to arrive, or Taxis that I didn't order or to be SWATed... I know all three of these happened to a friend who had a similar problem whom the forum assisted me with in the past. So I am thinking the best course of action is to proceed to the civil route and get an injunction against this individual that they must stop this.

I'm not looking for monetary compensation even though it has been agreed with my Mental Health Support Worker I could evidence this causing increased anxiety, makes me feel I can't play in my own community and it's a clear cut case of Slander.

My exact question is, how can I go about asking their ISP to release the details of the customer concerned. I am well aware that the Data Protection Act would be their easy way of refusing the issue. Is there a particular way I can go about this with the courts by making a request via the courts or direct to the ISP that they must give me the information to secure an injunction against them??

I can see this being a very difficult problem to solve, But I will take it on as I owe it not only to my community members but to myself as well. We banned this member for harassing another member and we gave them every opportunity to stop and were more than reasonable. However as this has gone on for so long I fear I'm at the point of realisation that this isn't going away any time soon.

Thanks for reading and I'm sorry to draw out such a long post, but I felt it appropriate to give a backstory. Any advice is welcomed.

Norwich Pharmacal Order, but:

a) there are costs implications, and

b) you didn’t not want to “get it wrong”,

So it is worth getting professional legal advice.

Norwich Pharmacal Order, but:

b) you didn’t not want to “get it wrong”,

Oops, combination of a typo and auto-correct!

Make that ‘you don’t want to “get it wrong”!’

You make the point that you want to obtain an injunction, and not knowing who to serve the injunction on prevents you doing so.

You can’t just use this to feel nd out who they are, though : you’ll be expected to follow it through with a viable application for an injunction (‘the bar is set high’, to prevent this being abused).

Note: if you obtain an injunction the person restrained by it will know who has sought it.

Thank you for this Bazza, I have every intention of following this through and seeking an injunction to insist the harassment stops. They already know who I am so I have no problem at all with them knowing I'm going to turn the tables on them. They have now started using various pictures of me in the public domain and started doing photoshops of my image into sexually explicit content and posting it in various forums. They've also been seen bragging about it in another esports community and now innocent people are being dragged into this who played no involvement at all and this is something I can no longer allow.

I had a brief look at the EX50 document and could see that various fee options that may apply in this case, do you know the exact costs of this application? I brief google suggested filling an N208 form. I am in receipt of benefits for disability and qualify for fee remission in the Courts. As this is a harassment case would one qualify for legal aid?

If not then I may have to take this on alone and hope for the best. How can one demonstrate to the court they intend to file an injunction? Complete the paperwork in advance but use the name "John Doe" and stay the application perhaps?

They have now started using various pictures of me in the public domain and started doing photoshops of my image into sexually explicit content and posting it in various forums.

..........

 

I am in receipt of benefits for disability and qualify for fee remission in the Courts. As this is a harassment case would one qualify for legal aid?

 

If not then I may have to take this on alone and hope for the best. How can one demonstrate to the court they intend to file an injunction? Complete the paperwork in advance but use the name "John Doe" and stay the application perhaps?

Harassment can be dealt with through the civil courts, but may also be a criminal offence.

By the time they have started photoshopping your image into sexually explicit material and posting it online I suspect it has crossed well over the line into a criminal act.

Go to the police.

I’m not a fan of the police being involved every time someone feels someone else has been mean to them on Facebook, (as they have much better things to do), and “reasonable fortitude” should be expected, but this sounds like it has gone WAY past that.

The police can get the miscreant’s details from their ISP and likely quicker than you can using the civil courts.

The police may not (initially!) be able to give you the full details of the miscreant ; but if/when it comes to a prosecution you can ask that an injunction is also requested.

Thank you again Bazza. I have compiled a list of evidence and collated it all and I am now going to file a complaint with the Police. I was hesitant at first for the reasons you posted, I don't particularly want to be laughed out the station because they think this is just a "Silly disagreement on Facebook".

It's good to have a reality check that this is indeed harassment and it's gone way past the point of being funny.

My intention with a Norwich Pharmacal Order was to obtain the perpetrators details so I could file an injunction against them to cease and desist and to remove and destroy all the uploadings they've made.

I could live with someone throwing a "You ****ing muppet" type comment and just ignore it. That is something I would not go to the police over. That's not the case here however.

When reporting this, do you think I should report to my local constabulary or theirs? While this person is within the UK they are not in England if you get my drift... I'm happy to jump on a bus and report to their Constabulary if this would further help proceedings? What do you think?

Good evening all.

I made the following thread in Data Protection (Which I'm happy to be merged here and/or moved to the correct place)

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?482278-Asking-an-ISP-to-release-details-of-a-customer-whom-is-harassing-you

Where an ex member of my esports gaming community has been on a warpath against me for some months.

In a rather bizarre twist of fate I was unwell on the Saturday evening/early morning and couldn't sleep. So decided to read old archive emails and stumbled across one from the member in question which included their full name and address in a membership payment via paypal... Their bloody name was starring me in the face the whole time, hiding in an old archive...........:mad2::mad2:

So now I have their details I intend to file for an injunction. A quick google suggests it's a Form N16A - https://formfinder.hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/n16a-eng.pdf

However I am slightly confused as to the Part 6 in the form and not sure who would need to complete that? Can anyone advise of a sample N16A so I could look at it.

Also in the demands and forbidden section, the demands I wish to make exceed the amount of space within the box. Can I type "See Attached Statement" and list my demands and forbidden actions?

Finally, I think it's reasonable to ask for costs for emotional distress and discrimination against my disabilities (They are openly seen mocking them both in games and in YouTube / Liveleak videos) But I don't want to come across as in this for money. I just want to enjoy my right to a private life with my gaming members who follow the ethos of the community.

I think it's absolutely fair to say they will fall foul of Protection from Harassment Act but also Equality Act for discrimination against my disability.

Whilst I won't type exactly what was said by them as it's too vulgar. The disability was specifically mentioned along with a few choice words with 4, 4 and 6 letters beginning with F, C and R retrospectively...

So any help on completion of the N16A would be great. I'm happy to type out what I have so far for you all to examine as I want to make sure everything is CPR compliant and reasonably slam dunked?

Thanks

Just to update the thread, a complaint was made to the Police and it was handed over to the perpetrators' local constabulary. They were arrested and had their IT equipment seized. In interview they fully admitted all allegations made against them. As they fully cooperated with the Police and had a spotless record they were issued with a Caution.

This unfortunately means I didn't get the injunction or compensation as I had requested and this was apparently a failure on my local Police Constabulary to put this into my Statement. It was requested during interview and a discussion was held between myself and the Police Officer going into great detail on the subject. So I'm going to feed that back to them as if that is indeed the correct procedure it should've been in the statement.

I'm partially unsure how to move forward. I think I would still like an injunction to satisfy my mental health and assist my Anxiety which is poor at the best of times. But I'm also minded that a caution and seizure of the individuals equipment very likely gave them the scare of their life that it caught up with them. So I'm leaning on should I be the bigger person here and leave it hoping that its a closed matter?

I would strongly advise against pursuing an injunction. Injunctions are serious, legally complex big bucks litigation and will consume you with procedural hurdles for months. Not withstanding, your biggest problem is that a court is likely to take the view that your issue has already been remedied by the police issuing a caution.

Walk away and get on with your life.

Having slept on this, I've decided that pursuing the avenues of Compensation and Injunctions will be more hassle than it's worth. Has this individual caused me financial losses and serious inconvenience? Yes to both. But if I pursue this further it's just "another thing to do" when I've already got enough things to deal with as it is. Plus it's a distraction from providing a community for my gaming members.

So yes walking away is the right thing to do in this case.

That said, I will still feedback to my local constabulary that my request for an injunction at the time needed to be in my statement and it wasn't.

Other than that I would call this issue resolved and it can now be marked as such.

That's the spirit.