HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith announced this week an extra £3.5m for use in the battle against domestic violence.

The cash will be put to ensuring the future of helplines and producing a leaflet to help family and friends of victims to identify the abuse and support those who suffer from it.

This ties in with the appointment last month of Sara Payne as the ‘Victims’ Champion’.

Sara’s child Sarahwas murdered by paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000.

She said this week: “Over the last eight years I have been asking for victims to have a louder voice and for the Government to listen more closely to what they have to say.

“I am proud I will now be their champion and welcome my appointment to this very important role.

“I look forward to bringing the voice of victims and witnesses to the heart of Government.”

Hopefully her work will reach into domestic violence – and one area of that tragedy that as yet remains shrouded in statistical mystery is violence in the home against men.

It’s inevitable that domestic violence directed by men against women should predominate.

No matter how balanced and gender-correct we might try to be, every published figure for violence in the home shows that more men abuse women than vice versa.

There can be no denying that males are generally physically stronger than females and are hormonally more inclined to seek physical outlets for their anger and frustration.

But the British Crime Survey, now in its seventh consecutive year of publication, repeatedly notes that men are also victims.

The 2007/08 survey recorded that while one in four women suffers from domestic violence, one in six men are victims.

Neil Blacklock, a director of the charity Respect, said: “The figures of domestic violence directed against women are easier to appreciate – about one in four relationships are affected.

“The picture is more complicated for men.”

He said statistics include men assaulted by other men in the home which can include their lovers, sons, step and foster sons and even other aggrieved family members acting on the woman’s behalf.

It’s further complicated by the fact that typically, women’s abuse against men is not Friday night Andy Capp style slapstick bashings with a frying pan.

It’s much more likely to involve sexual or emotional blackmail, the steady and deliberate undermining of a male’s self-confidence or authority, shouting and screaming, nagging, belittling and ridicule.

Men’s misery over these forms of domestic abuse remains largely unrecorded.

Masculine pride holds most men back from admitting they are abused and from seeking help if they admit it.

But there are now a number of agencies competent to deal with domestic abuse against men, ranging from offering confidential advice to direct support for victims.

These include Respect (0808 801 0327) Men’s Advice Line (0207 022 1801), Men’s Aid (0871 223 9986), Broken Rainbow (0845 260 4460), and Domestic Violence Helpline (0808 200 0247).