Incompetent stalkers

The five types identified in the Mullen et al (1999) typology are the basis of approaches to the clinical management of stalking (Mullen, Pathé and Purcell 2001; Mullen, Mackenzie, Ogloff, Pathé and Purcell 2006) and the Stalking Risk Profile (MacKenzie et al, 2009).

Incompetent stalkers (N=22) tend to seek to develop relationships but they fail to abide by social rules governing courtship. Unlike the intimacy seeker, they are simply seeking a date or a sexual encounter. They are usually intellectually limited and/or socially incompetent and have been rejected by suitors. They usually gain little satisfaction from their approaches and so they usually rapidly abandon the pursuit. But very soon they turn their unwanted attentions to new victims.