Domestic abusers who kill their partners to face tougher sentences
Domestic abusers who kill their partners face a minimum of 25 years in jail under plans to end “soft” sentences for domestic homicide.
Ministers are proposing a shake-up under which killers with a history of coercive or controlling behaviour against their victims will face tougher sentences.
The use of excessive or gratuitous violence will also be made an aggravating factor in sentencing decisions for murder, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced.
The changes to the law follow a review by Clare Wade, KC, who was defence barrister for Sally Challen, the first woman to have her conviction for murdering her husband quashed under coercive control laws.
Ms Wade found that the current sentencing system failed to take account of the fact that many domestic homicides are preceded by years of abuse.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: "This Government will do everything we can to protect vulnerable women and keep in prison for longer those who attack or threaten them.”
Higher sentencing of 25 years minimum discussed
The MoJ will consult on whether there should be a higher sentencing starting point of 25 years for murder cases where the perpetrator has a history of controlling and coercive abuse.
The 25 year minimum currently only applies to premeditated killings where a knife is taken to the scene of the crime. That is 10 years more than the current starting point for murder in the home where a weapon, such as a kitchen knife, may already be present.
Under the changes, judges will also be required to treat coercive or controlling behaviour by a killer as an “aggravating” factor which means they are expected to increase the sentence. The same will apply to so-called “overkill” offences where a killer causes multiple injuries in a frenzy of violence and anger.
The Government has also asked the Sentencing Council to review guidelines for manslaughter to ensure cases where deaths occur during rough sex should be punished with longer jail terms.
Although the law is clear that there is no such thing as a “rough sex defence”, the review found that the high risk of death these acts may carry should be reflected in sentences potentially several years longer.
Campaigners have highlighted cases such as Poppy Waterhouse, 24, who was murdered by her ex boyfriend in a drunken attack fuelled by jealousy and rage. He stabbed her to death with a knife from their kitchen, inflicting more than 100 injuries but was jailed for just 16 years.
Around one in four (26 per cent) homicides in England and Wales are committed by a current or former partner or relative.
Of the murder cases reviewed by Clare Wade over half (51 per cent) involved controlling or coercive behaviour while excessive violence, or overkill, was identified in 60 per cent, with men being the perpetrator in all but one case.
Carole Gould and Julie Devey, who co-founded the campaigning organisation Killed Women after the deaths of their daughters, welcomed the Government moves but said: "They must be just the start of the root-and-branch reform that is needed to ensure killers of women face sentences that reflect the cruelty and brutality of their crimes."
The pair called on the Government to make sure the changes "are felt in courtrooms".
Vera Baird, the former victims' commissioner, said the MoJ needed to take action on Ms Wade's proposals to take account of the female victims of abuse who subsequently kill.
"Making the use of controlling and coercive behaviour an aggravating factor for perpetrators who kill, whilst failing to make it a mitigating factor for women who kill only through having been victims of it, is to do injustice to those women," she said.
Domestic homicide is defined as a death that occurs due to violence, abuse or neglect by a partner, ex-partner, relative or member of the same household.
Controlling or coercive behaviour was introduced as a criminal offence in the Serious Crime Act 2015 and can include economic, emotional or psychological abuse and threats alongside physical or sexual violence.
