A shocking 29 victims were killed at the hands of their partner or ex-partner in West Yorkshire in the last five years.
And in three of those crimes the perpetrator had been flagged up as high risk of offending to multi agency authorities such as police, council or support agencies before they went on to kill.
Oakes mum Emma Mansell was brutally stabbed by Sutton 81 times in ‘anger and possesive rage’ at the house they shared in Reinwood Road in May last year.
Figures disclosed under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to our region’s force, which do not include the latest case, recorded 29 victims of domestic homicide between May 2008 and March this year.
And of those 21 men and one women have been convicted of the offence. Of the remaining cases one suspect was found not guilty, two suspects committed suicide and two cases were processed on the grounds of the suspect’s mental incapacity.
At the time West Yorkshire Police responded to the FOI, two cases had not been finalised.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “The context of each domestic homicide is different and whilst some do follow on from previously reported incidents of abuse or violence, some do not.
“West Yorkshire Police works alongside the statutory lead (each Community Safety Partnership’s Chair) to understand the context of all domestic homicides and draw any learning from the circumstances under the auspices of the Domestic Homicide Review process.”
A domestic violence disclosure scheme launched in the aftermath of the murder of former Batley woman Clare Wood has gone some way to make potential victims safer.
Clare’s father Michael Brown, and others campaigned ever since for women to be given the power to ask the police and other agencies to check the records of prospective boyfriends.
Her family later discovered that Appleton had a history of violence against women, including kidnapping an ex-girlfriend at knifepoint.
Following pilots of the disclosure scheme here in West Yorkshire, known as Clare’s Law, the Home Office has since rolled it out nationally from March this year.
Under the scheme both men and women will be able to apply to check on a partner with whom they are embarking on an “intimate relationship.”
For more information go to www.westyorkshire.police.uk/domesticviolence