Singer Jamelia 'felt alone' when suffering domestic abuse

Singer Jamelia Davis has spoken of her own experience of domestic violence as new sentencing guidelines introducing tougher punishments for domestic abuse offences were announced.

Crimes will now be considered more serious if they are committed in a domestic setting than similar offences carried out in a non-domestic setting.

The guidelines mean jail sentences will be extended to include emotional and psychological offences, abusive phone calls, text messages, emails and social media messages.

Strictly star Jamelia told ITV News: "These guidelines are so important. I think it's taken quite a while for us to get to this stage but I'm glad that we're here now.

"When one in four women are going to experience domestic violence in their lifetime it has to be put at this level of importance."

Jamelia, who now campaigns to raise awareness of domestic abuse, said when she was experiencing abuse she did not feel able to speak out about it.

"I definitely felt as if I was alone," she said. "I didn't feel as though I could even have a conversation with anyone and it wasn't until I began having conversations about it that I started to realise that so many other people experience domestic abuse."

The star said she released the song 'Thank you' in 2003 - which was about her surviving domestic abuse - to raise awareness and "put it on the agenda".

Instructions for judges and magistrates currently state that offences in a domestic context should be seen as "no less serious" than others.

An increase in sentence severity is expected as a result of the new guidance issued for England and Wales.

Crimes involving serious violence, or where the emotional and psychological damage is severe, will warrant a custodial sentence in the majority of cases.

The Sentencing Council say domestic abuse makes the offending more serious because it "represents a violation of the trust and security that normally exists between people in an intimate or family relationship".

It adds that there may also be a "continuing threat to the victim's safety, and in the worst cases a threat to their life or the lives of others around them".

Domestic abuse is rarely a one-off incident, the document notes, while it also flags up the potential for victims and their children to suffer "lasting trauma".

Sentencing Council member Jill Gramann said domestic abuse "comes in many forms such as harassment, assault and sex offences".

She added: "The increasing use of technology in offending has meant that it has also evolved in its scope and impact.

"The new guideline will ensure that courts have the information they need to deal with the great range of offending and help prevent further abuse occurring.

Provocation is no mitigation to an offence within a domestic context, except in rare circumstances, the guideline says.

The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated 26% of women and 15% of men aged 16 to 59 have experienced some form of domestic abuse.