Following 8 months speculation of what the new Domestic Abuse Draft bill will look like, the Government has now published it’s 196 page draft bill.

Married mum of four, Lindsey, supported a police prosecution of actual bodily harm and the breach of a non-molestation order against her husband, only for the Court to allow him to walk free.

In July 2016, Lance Hart brutally shot dead his wife Claire, 50 years old and his only daughter, Charlotte, 19 years old in a leisure centre car park, in Lincolnshire. He then turned the gun on himself.

There are many myths surrounding Domestic Abuse and its causes. Here are just a few that have been highlighted by our Family team in support of the #16DaysofAction campaign.

In March 2016, the Home Office, published its 2016-20 Violence against Women and Girls strategy. Following this, the Government stated that they would dedicate £80 million funding, to provide core support to refuges and other accommodation-based services. This money was also intended for rape support centres and national helplines. In the spring budget of 2017, a further £20 million was announced to be included towards the initial figure.

Natalie Hemming was a married 31 year old mother-of-three, when she was murdered in May 2016 by her husband, Paul Hemming. The initial report of concern for Natalie was made to the Police by her mother, who reported her missing on the 3rd May 2016. Unfortunately, this report came too late to help Natalie as it was later found that Paul Hemming, had brutally murdered Natalie in their home in Milton Keynes two days prior to the call.

Domestic abuse, was once seen as a gender-specific offence committed by males towards females. From as early as the mid 1800’s, the law deemed it a husband’s acceptable right to exert control over his wife, through the use of physical abuse.

Over the last 18 years, the government has debated and discussed the increasing social problem of domestic abuse within the UK and reinforced the provisions available to law enforcement agencies. A the beginning of the 1990’s the Home Office took an approach to address and develop policy on domestic violence at a National and Multi-agency level. By 2003, numerous policy documents surrounding domestic abuse and the increase in reports had been published and presented to the government. They reacted to these findings by proposing a strategy tackling prevention, protection and justice for victims of domestic abuse; supporting victims to rebuild their lives.