Malicious Communications Act: When an Ex's Messages Are a Crime

Part of: Non Molestation Order

The Malicious Communications Act 1988 makes it a crime to send an indecent or grossly offensive message or letter to cause distress or anxiety. It applies in England and Wales. Since 31 January 2024, newer offences in the Online Safety Act 2023 cover threats and deliberate lies. When the messages come from a partner or ex, the family court can also order them to stop.

This guide is for anyone getting abusive texts, voice notes, letters or posts from someone they know, usually an ex. It explains what each law covers and what changed in 2024. It also covers reporting the messages, keeping them as evidence and using a court order to protect you.

If you are in danger now, call 999. Our guide to domestic abuse helplines explains how to call 999 when you cannot speak. It also explains how to cover your tracks after reading a page like this.

Messages still arriving and not sure whether to report them or apply to court first? You can book a free initial consultation with one of our specialists before you decide.

What does the Malicious Communications Act cover?

It covers anything indecent or grossly offensive sent to another person to cause distress or anxiety. Distress only has to be one of the sender’s aims, and it can be aimed at you or at anyone they mean to see it. The offence reaches letters, cards and things handed over, as well as texts, emails, voice notes and app messages (s.1(1)).

The malicious communications offence sits in section 1 of the 1988 Act. The Act counts any communication in electronic form (s.1(2A)), so the app or platform makes no difference. Sending also includes delivering or transmitting it, or getting someone else, such as a friend, to pass it on (s.1(3)).

Either the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court can hear the case. In the Crown Court the maximum is two years in prison, a fine or both. In the magistrates’ court the limit is 12 months for any offence on or after 2 May 2022 (s.1(4) and (5)).

What does the prosecution have to prove?

It has to prove that the person sent an indecent or grossly offensive communication, and that one purpose in sending it was to cause distress or anxiety. Because the test looks at the sender’s purpose, section 1 does not ask what effect the message actually had on you.

Grossly offensive is a high bar. The CPS guidance on communications offences notes that freedom of expression protects speech that offends, shocks or disturbs. So a rude or angry message is not automatically a crime, although a run of them may be harassment.

What did the Online Safety Act 2023 change?

From 31 January 2024, it moved threats and false information out of the Malicious Communications Act and into two new offences of its own. It also removed false messages from section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 (s.189).

Before then, section 1 also covered threats and information the sender knew or believed to be false (earlier text). The 2023 Act repealed those parts, and a defence linked to threats, on 31 January 2024 (SI 2024/31, reg. 2). The rest of section 1 still applies. The two newer offences work like this:

• Threatening communications (s.181): sending a message that threatens death or serious harm. The sender must intend you to fear it will happen, or be reckless about that. Serious harm includes serious injury, rape and serious financial loss, and the maximum sentence is five years in prison.
• False communications (s.179): sending a known falsehood meant to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience. The sender must have no reasonable excuse, and only the magistrates’ court can hear the case.

For both, a message can be a post, an electronic message, a letter or an item handed to you (s.182). Forwarding someone else’s message or sharing their post can count too. Prosecutors can still use the old wording for messages sent before that date, and the CPS guidance covers both.

When do messages from an ex count as malicious communications?

They count when your ex sent something indecent or grossly offensive to cause you distress or anxiety. One message can be enough, so you do not have to wait for a pattern before you report it.

Examples of malicious communications from an ex-partner include:

• a stream of sexual or degrading insults sent after you end the relationship
• an indecent photo or video sent to shock or humiliate you
• a voice note full of slurs about you, sent to your new partner so that it reaches you
• a card or letter with grossly offensive content, left at your door or sent to your work

Other messages from an ex fall under different laws. Threats now come under the Online Safety Act, as above. Two or more messages that alarm or distress you can be harassment (Protection from Harassment Act 1997, s.7). Our guide to domestic harassment explains that offence, and our stalking legal help page covers stalking.

When the sender is a partner, ex or relative, abusive messages can also be domestic abuse. The legal definition covers threatening behaviour and psychological or emotional abuse (Domestic Abuse Act 2021, s.1). A single incident can count. Our guide to coercive control explains how courts look at a wider pattern of behaviour.

Malicious Communications Act 1988 or Communications Act 2003: which law applies?

Either can apply to the same message, and prosecutors choose the charge that fits the facts. The 2003 Act covers only messages sent by phone or online, while the 1988 Act also reaches letters but needs a purpose of causing distress.

People often search for a Malicious Communications Act 2003, but the 2003 law is the Communications Act 2003, s.127. It covers grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages sent over a public electronic communications network. According to the CPS guidance, that includes the internet, mobile networks and apps such as WhatsApp. Only the magistrates’ court hears section 127 cases. A case must start within three years of the message. It must also start within six months of the prosecutor having enough evidence (s.127(5)).

How do you report malicious communications to the police?

Call 999 if you are in danger or a message threatens immediate harm. Otherwise, contact your local neighbourhood policing team (GOV.UK), and keep the messages exactly as you received them.

Keep every message, even the ones that are hard to look at, because they are your evidence. A screenshot should show the sender, the date and the time, and many apps let you export a whole chat. For letters, keep the envelope too, and note when and how each one arrived. Then store copies somewhere the sender has never had access to. Our guide to social media evidence explains how the courts treat screenshots and exports.

Try not to reply in kind, however tempting it is. The sender can quote an angry reply back at you later, and a reply can also make things more dangerous.

After a conviction, the criminal court can add a restraining order (Sentencing Act 2020, s.360). It protects you from harassment, or from conduct that will cause a fear of violence. Even after an acquittal, a court can make one to protect you from harassment (Protection from Harassment Act 1997, s.5A). Our guide on how to get a restraining order explains both. Either way, that order only comes at the end of the criminal case.

How can a court order stop the messages?

If the sender is a partner, ex or relative, you can ask the family court for a non-molestation order. The order can name what must stop, such as messages, posts about you or contact through other people (s.42(6)). Breaking it is a criminal offence with a maximum of five years in prison (Family Law Act 1996, s.42A).

You can apply without a police report, and there is no fee (GOV.UK). You can only apply against someone associated with you (s.62(3)). That includes a spouse or former spouse, someone you live or lived with, a relative and the other parent of your child. A boyfriend or girlfriend you never lived with or got engaged to also counts if the relationship lasted a significant time. GOV.UK puts that at more than six months. Our guide to the non-molestation order explains the application, and our FL401 form guide covers the form itself.

What if the sender is not a partner, ex or relative?

A non-molestation order is not open to you against someone you are not associated with, such as an ex’s new partner. Instead, if the messages amount to harassment, you can claim an injunction in the county court. Breaking it is an offence carrying up to five years in prison (Protection from Harassment Act 1997, s.3). Our guide to injunction orders compares the options.

Malicious Communications Act checker: which law fits the message?

Three answers about the message show which law may apply, what to keep and which order could stop it. This page does not send or store anything you choose.

Malicious Communications Act: frequently asked questions

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.