Americans are finding ways of dealing with deluded fans who stalk and threaten celebrities

The British actress Helena Bonham Carter went to court last week to ask for protection from an obsessive fan. Five years of harassment from a 27-year-old man who plagued her with unwanted telephone calls,visits and letters had driven her to act. For many celebrities and thousands of ordinary people, the problem of the over-zealous fan or unrequited lover has become much more than a matter of tiresome phone calls in the middle of the night.

To date, no British laws deal specifically with stalking, though if America's crime trends are anything to go by, Parliament may soon be forced to follow that country's lead in making it a punishable crime. Lawmakers and corporations there are both taking steps to protect not just stars but also ordinary citizens - from the mad, the bad and the deluded.

In 1990, California became the first state to institute anti-stalking laws: today 31 states have such laws which guard against wilful, malicious and repeated harassing of another person and/or their families. Convicted stalkers lace prison sentences ranging from 30 days to seven years, and may be fined from $750 to $10,000. But even with new laws on the books, stalking is a tough crime to control.

For those in the entertainment industry, stalking is a real and ever-present danger. Apart from the personal risk, the loss of a major movie star can cost a company millions; and there is also the threat of lawsuits from actors who feel they have not been properly protected.

Driven by such fears, Hollywood has been searching for the way to sift the psychotic from the ordinary fan. International Security Management, an American firm that assesses threats for companies around the globe, has pioneered a computer program known as Threat Data Tracking System and has managed to break down stalking activity into several different categories.

The company has input more than 500 letters and photographs into its system, and noted phone calls, visits and other attempts to intimidate victims, as well as stalkers' characteristics.

Scanning through the data base is a sorry business. It is an unrelenting tale of loneliness and despair — of people pouring out their frustrations to individuals they have never met in a mixture of poetry, prose and madness.

"Once we get a line on these people, we hope to be able to predict what will trigger them to commit violent actions," says Noel Koch, ISM President. Then we can develop a more effective intervention strategy — whether that means protecting the victim or restraining the stalker."

Three basic types of stalker have been identified: those who refuse to give up real relationships that have gone wrong; those who become obsessed with a superficial relationship through work or leisure activities; and those who invent completely artificial relationships with someone, usually a celebrity, whom they have never met.

The last category of stalker, usually known as the celebrity stalker, is the most difficult to track. According to Beth Finkelstein, a senior analyst at ISM, the first letters or phone calls received by a victim might seem relatively innocuous so they don't get noted right away. Only after_: letters and phone calls increase do people finally take action, by which time data has been lost. Also letters or phone calls may be received by several members of a celebrity's entourage instead of the celebrities themselves, making it more difficult to co-ordinate information and no assess the level of danger posed by a potential attacker.

The actress Rebecca Schaeffer was used to receiving fan mail from ardent admirers. The 21-year-old actress was a rising star with Warner Brothers. To Robert Bardo, a 17-year-old high school student from Tucson, Arizona, she represented the ideal woman. He wrote her fan letters, collected articles about her and repeatedly watched videotapes of her television show. He then attempted to visit her at a Hollywood studio, carrying a giant teddy bear and a bouquet of flowers.

Not long after being turned away, Bardo paid a private detective to find Schaeffer's home address. He called on her one morning and when she answered the door shot her once in the chest, killing her instantly. The JSM database should be able togive early warning of future Bardos.

"The people who express love are often more threatening than those who express hate or direct aggression," says Laure Lynch, a consultant at ISM who has analysed hundreds of letters sent to victims.

But while technology may make it easier for the stars to foil stalkers, it may be some time before ordinary citizens enjoy access to such sophisticated systems. Meanwhile, police departments across America are taking cues from the Los Angeles Police Department, which runs the nation's only Threat Management Unit dealing primarily with domestic stalking. Detective Greg Boles says, "We never tell a victim, 'It's okay, nothing is going to happen to you.' We realise anything can happen in these cases. Just when we've seen the most abnormal and bizarre, something else comes along to beat it."

IV. READ the text more carefully and answer the multiple choice questions that follow. Choose the best option (А, В, С or D) according to the information in the text.

1 Helena Bonham Carter went to court to
A find out if the law applied in her case.

В show an obsessed fan how displeased she was.

С find a solution to an unpleasant situation.

D demand punishment for a wrong-doer.

2 Parliament may introduce new laws against stalking because

A American crime trends may spread to Britain.

В stalking is a tough crime to control.

С ordinary citizens need protecting.

D there is pressure from the police to do so.