Tonight

It may be marketed as the most romantic time of the year, but this Valentine’s Day weekend police expect a spike in domestic violence calls.

“People see these idyllic perfect relationships in the media and think, ‘That’s not my life,’ and they rail against it and we see..a spike in terms of reports to the police,” says Chief Constable Brian Moore, who is the domestic violence spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

But while this time of year may provide a stark reminder to victims of how bad their relationships can be in comparison to others, the reality is that the problem of domestic abuse exists all year round and that its incidence remains disturbingly high.

Domestic violence accounts for one in six of all violent crime reported to police and one in six of the murders that occur in Britain.

“It’s a huge problem. It costs the country billions of pounds but sat behind that is untold misery and not only for the victims but particularly the children as well in those households,” says Moore.

Five years ago, a bill introduced a number of measures to crack down on domestic abuse, including creating perpetrator programmes and shifting the emphasis by police away from relying on victim’s complaints to make arrests.

The police have been stepping up their efforts to arrest perpetrators and some forces, such as the West Yorkshire Police, are now piloting the use of head cameras to gather evidence when they respond to a domestic violence incident.

The programme follows officers in Wakefield, West Yorkshire as they respond to a number of violent altercations. The graphic video images of smashed up rooms, and the terrified victims and their injuries provide powerful evidence for laying charges and bringing a case to court.

But once it gets to court, it is at this stage that many victims feel let down.

Fiona meets a number of families that believe that sentences for domestic abusers are much too lenient.

Mum-of-three Teresa says that she endured 17 years of abuse, much of it witnessed by her children, before finally calling the police in 2007.

She recalls the night: “He had his hand round my throat and with the other hand he had his fist just pushed really tightly on my cheek, like so it was pinning me down to the floor and then he was really whispering to me, ‘That’s it you’re dead now, I can tell Abigail (their daughter) you just hit your head, like fell and hit your head.’ He said, ‘And no one will ever know, this is it you’re dead.’”

Her husband was charged and admitted the assault in court. Teresa and her daughters were sure that he would get a custodial sentence.

However, the judge decided that the attack was out of character and gave the man a community service order.

Twenty-one-year-old Chelsea, the eldest daughter, was devastated. “You know when you can feel your heart pounding. I just thought I’ve got to say something, I feel sick, and you just couldn’t and before I knew it he was walking out towards us and he like had this smirk on his face like he always does, laughing and joking, hugging his girlfriend and I just looked at him and I just thought …what are you doing standing there hugging people, you should be locked away.”

The most common sentence for those incidents that do make it to court is non custodial. Many offenders are given a community service order and ordered to attend a perpetrator’s programme, which is designed to make them understand the reasons behind their violence and to come up with ways to curb it. While some believe that these programmes are an important part of the rehabilitation process, critics say that they are vastly under-resourced and they shouldn’t be a replacement for a proper punishment.

Nicola Harwin, chief executive of Women’s Aid, says: “While theoretically domestic violence is supposed to be treated just as seriously as any other crime, in practice I think that that still isn’t the case. There’s been a number of cases where the courts are looking at what his character is like, whether he’s behaved badly, what impact it will have on his work or his job. And really those aren’t the considerations which the court will (should) take into account.”

Last edited: Wednesday, 28 January 2009