By Sophie Hurcom


A 12-month long campaign will finally come to fruition when domestic violence scheme Clare’s Law is piloted across the coun- try this year, giving people the ‘right to ask’ if their partner has a history of domestic abuse. Named after Clare Wood who was killed by her ex-partner in 2009, the launch of the scheme has raised a number of issues about how to effectively tackle domes- tic abuse. Similar to Sarah’s Law where parents can find out if there are


sex offenders living in their area, Clare’s Lawallows people to check with the police if their partner is known for inflicting domestic abuse. Starting this summer the scheme is set to be trialled for 12 months in Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire and Gwent and if proved successful it could be launched across the whole country. Sadly, domestic abuse is a crime on a huge scale, with charity


Women’s Aid stating that currently one in four women are victims of domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime, while startlingly two women are killed by their partners each week.


Campaign Clare’s Lawis the result of a diligent campaign by Michael Brown,


father of Clare Wood who the scheme is named after. Tragically, in 2009, 36-year-old Clare was murdered by her former partner George Appleton, whom she met on social networking website Facebook. Despite repeatedly reporting Appleton to the police, including for a serious sexual assault and threats he made to kill Clare, her killer was overlooked by the police. Even more tragically, Appleton was known to the police for


searching for women online and on dating sites, as well as having a number of previous convictions for domestic violence and harassment. With more and more people meeting over social networking and dating websites, calls were made for women to have greater


A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING


rights to gain access to their partners’ previous history, in order to know that the person they had ‘met’ was safe. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as the scheme was


launched, Mr Brown spoke of the importance of the cause, ‘I believe if my daughter had known of the past of her partner she would have dropped him like a hot brick and scarpered out of there’. Although the exact details of the scheme are still being worked


out, plans have long had the support of a number of MP’s, includ- ing Home Secretary Theresa May and Hazel Blears. While the intent and aim of the scheme has never been ques-


tioned, concerns have been raised about how effective it will be in practice. Domestic violence charity Refuge was one of the first to voice potential issues with the scheme. They argue that while the charity wholeheartedly supports the


need for change to tackle domestic abuse, the crux of the prob- lem will not be solved with a new scheme, but instead improving simple procedures already in place. A new scheme they say will waste money and resources which are already stretched. Sandra Horley, Chief Executive for the charity speaking in the


Guardian called for the police to ‘get their basics right’. Sadly, for Clare Wood despite the fact she repeatedly contacted the police, they were too late in responding to her pleas for help and failed to act as efficiently as they should have based on the information they already had about Appleton. The public already has the power to ask for information from


the police about partners, who in turn are able to disclose infor- mation to protect someone potentially at risk. Which raises the question of how many people will actually contact the police look-


18 actionetwork


ing for information on their partners under this new scheme, if it is already widely available? Although one incident of domestic violence is reported to the


police every minute, this form of abuse still remains largely a hid- den crime. The majority of cases go unreported and many victims hide it from friends and families, as well as the authorities. Consequently, of all the people that are known to the police for


having a violent history, there are many more that are not known at all. Potentially people may be lead into a false sense of security if their partner is ‘cleared’ by the police, even if they have a violent past that has simply been unreported.


Resources Arguably, this only highlights the need for resources and money


to be spent on getting more cases of domestic abuse reported and convictions made in the first place, so schemes such as Clare’s Law are not needed. Even more so, domestic abuse is most commonly not just a one


off, with most abusers being repeat offenders inflicting violence on multiple occasions. Clare’s Law is based on the premise that once people are fully informed of their partners violent past they will leave them, however as is widely reported, it is not always that easy for victims. Therefore Clare’s Lawseems in many ways to provide a simple solution to a much more complex issue. Despite the contentious issues surrounding this new legislation,


it has certainly highlighted how much there is to be done to effec- tively reduce the number of people that suffer domestic violence, in order to ensure that tragedies such as those of Clare Wood, don’t happen again.


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