Tough new laws to allow checks on partners are being rolled out on Saturday in more parts of the UK.

And it is due to the campaigning efforts of a Batley man.

Clare’s Law was created after 36-year-old Clare Wood was murdered by a man who became known as the “Facebook fugitive”.

Her father, former prison officer Michael Brown, fought to stop it happening to other women.

In the days after her brutal killing, detectives issued a warning that her ex-boyfriend George Appleton might attempt to communicate with other women via the internet.

Unbeknown to Miss Wood, Appleton had a history of violence towards women and was known to prowl online dating websites and Facebook in search of partners, often using different aliases.

The mother-of-one’s body was discovered in the bedroom of her home in Salford, Greater Manchester, in February 2009. She had been strangled and set on fire.

In the months before her murder she had repeatedly contacted GMP alleging Appleton had caused criminal damage, harassed her, threatened to kill her and tried to rape her.

Appleton, from Salford, was found six days later after her death, hanged in a derelict pub.

George Appleton
George Appleton

Miss Wood had told her father Appleton had a criminal record - though only for motoring offences.

In fact he had been jailed for three years in 2002 for harassing another woman and for six months a year earlier after breaching a restraining order on another ex-girlfriend.

At the inquest into Miss Wood’s death in May 2011, Coroner Jennifer Leeming said women in abusive relationships should have the right to know about the violent past of the men they were with, just as Sarah’s Law recommends parents have the right to know of any child sex convictions of men with access to their children.

Ms Leeming recorded a verdict of unlawful killing by strangulation as the cause of Miss Wood’s death before making a number of recommendations to be passed on to police and the Government.

The family’s campaign was also taken up by Salford and Eccles MP Hazel Blears and backed by police and Home Secretary Theresa May, who agreed to run the pilot.

Mr Brown, a former prison officer from Batley, said at the start of it: “My daughter wasn’t stupid. Had she known about George Appleton’s past she would have taken herself and my granddaughter out of there in a heartbeat.”

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