Recent statistics show that people who have been killed as a result of domestic violence has increased to a 5 year high.
Last year, 173 people were killed in domestic violence related homicides, an increase of 32 deaths on 2017, according to data obtained by the BBC from 43 police forces across the UK. This figure has steadily increased from 2014.
Domestic violence homicides are not just committed by a partner or spouse, they can also be committed by family members such as parents, brothers and sisters. The vast majority of homicides are mainly against women but men are in included in the cases.
Between April 2014 and April 2017, in England and Wales, around 75% of the victims of the killings by an ex-partner, partner or family member were against woman and were committed predominantly by men.
In March, the Centre for Womens Justice (CWJ) lodged a complaint against the police force, accusing them of failing to protect people against domestic and sexual violence.
The police already have powers, such as non-molestation orders, which can help prevent domestic violence homicides but they are not being used enough.
CWJ's Nogah Ofer commented: "Women have to go off and get orders in the civil courts. Then those orders are breached and the police don't do anything to arrest the suspects."
Efforts are being made by Government to tackle the ever growing issues of domestic violence and with the introduction of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme and Claire’s Law, which sees people being able to check the background of their partner should they suspect may have a history of domestic violence, is a step closer in trying to protect individuals against domestic violence. Despite this, homicide as a result of domestic violence continues to grow.
The Government have hired Nicole Jacobs from Standing Together Against Domestic Violence as the Domestic Abuse Commissioner to spearhead the £69b campaign to tackle the problem. It is hoped this campaign will see the number of victims and homicides of domestic and sexual violence reduce significantly.
At Ramsdens we have specialist Domestic Violence team who can help to obtain court orders at very short notice. For more information please call our family helpline on 08000 147720, send us an emailor text LAW to 67777 to book a free information session at any of our offices. We also offer early morning and late evening appointments across our offices.