People responsible for sexual harassment in the street will be charged under a toughening up of guidance to prosecutors.

New legal guidance published by the Crown Prosecution Service includes a specific chapter on charges relating to public sexual abuse.

It states that existing public order laws can be used to prosecute, even when someone makes "one-off, less serious comments" or in incidents of "cat-calling".

%image(14352142, type="article-full", alt="When people report unwanted touching on public transport police do not have to prove what happened was "intentionally sexual", new CPS guidance states")

When people report unwanted touching in the street or on public transport, police do not have to prove what happened was "intentionally sexual", it adds.

“Everyone has the right to travel on public transport, dance at a festival or walk the streets without fear of harassment. Feeling safe should not be a luxury for women,” said Siobhan Blake, CPS national lead for rape and serious sexual offences.

The government is currently consulting on stronger laws on street harassment including extending existing legislation by making it an offence to cause "intentional harassment, alarm or distress" to someone because of their sex.

%image(14352143, type="article-full", alt="Enough campaign posters were seen in parts of Norfolk")

It comes after women in Norfolk spoke out in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard of their experiences of being harassed, threatened and feeling unsafe in public places.

Norfolk councils have also called for more funding for measures to make public places safer including better street lighting, CCTV and a pilot scheme which would see plain-clothes officers in pubs and clubs.

Harassment of women and girls was highlighted in the high profile publicity ‘Enough’ campaign by Norfolk police earlier this year.

Among the locations targeted were some of the 651 hot-spots people had identified using the online tool Street Safe as where they felt unsafe.

A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) last year found that 71pc of women in the UK had experienced some form of sexual harassment, but nine in 10 cases were not reported to the police.

%image(14352144, type="article-full", alt="Police have stepped up targeted patrols at locations identified via the online tool Street Safe.")

Ms Blake said: "It is sickening that seven in 10 women - almost three quarters - have been subjected to this disgusting behaviour.

"The law is clear that if someone exposes themselves, tries to take inappropriate pictures or makes you feel threatened on the street, these are crimes and should not be dismissed.”

The CPS guidance also states that in cases of people being sent obscene images prosecutors consider whether the messages were offensive and intended to cause distress.

Stalking and harassment laws should only be used when there are repeated attempts by an offender to target a victim, it says.