Rapists and intercourse offenders to have ‘no place to cover’ after enormous change
Ministers have vowed to deploy the full power of the state to hunt down perpetrators not just on the streets, but also the vile predators preying on women online
Rapists and sex offenders will have “no place to hide” after the largest crackdown on violence against women and girls in British history.
Ministers have vowed to deploy the full power of the state to hunt down perpetrators not just on the streets, but also the vile predators preying on women online. In landmark reforms, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will next week announce Clare’s Law – passed in memory of murder victim Clare Wood – will be widened to include offences like stalking and sex assault.
It comes as part of a package of measures in a long-awaited strategy to tackle the national emergency of violence against women and girls (VAWG). Clare, 36, was murdered by her ex, George Appleton, in 2009. She was unaware that Appleton had a long history of violence against women, including a three year jail term for harassing another woman.
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Clare had reported her killer, who she met on Facebook, to police on several occasions, but was not made aware of his violent past. The law passed in her name created a Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), which means police can reveal whether someone’s new partner has an abusive or violent offending.
Under the proposed shake-up, police will be able to inform victims and would-be victims of other forms of violence against women or girls (VAWG) their partner has previously been convicted of.
Ms Mahmood told The Sunday Mirror the move will give women more “power and control” over their safety. The Home Secretary said: “This will be part of my plans to deploy the full power of the state to introduce the largest crackdown on violence perpetrated against women and girls in British history.
“With all of Government and all of society committed to this cause, we can turn people away from committing these awful crimes; bear down on abusers and stop them in their tracks and support victims so they get the justice they deserve.”
Other measures announced include requiring all police forces to hire dedicated rape and sexual offence specialist investigators by 2029, tasked with apprehending, investigating and locking up rapists and sex offenders across the country. It comes with 200 rapes recorded by the police every day, and even more going unreported.
New top police squads of covert online investigators will also be formed to clamp down on online abusers, and there will also be an expansion of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, introduced to impose curfews, electronic tags and exclusion zones on abusers with breaches facing up to 5-years in prison.
It comes on the back of the Home Office’s successful undercover network on child sexual abuse that has arrested over 1,700 perpetrators. Nearly £2 million will also be invested into a network of officers to target violence against women and girls online.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “This Government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency.
“For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That’s not good enough. We will halve it in a decade. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide.”
Experts had long voiced their frustration that the long-awaited strategy took more than a year to be published. In July last year Keir Starmer entered No10 vowing to halve VAWG within a decade.
On Tuesday, chairs of the Home Affairs Committee, Justice Committee and Women and Equalities Committee wrote to ministers over concerns from VAWG groups, including the delay is creating “significant uncertainty” across the sector and sending a message VAWG is “not a government priority”.
Earlier this month a damning report found too little is being done to prevent violence against women and girls. Lady Elish Angiolini, who is heading an inquiry set up following the murder of Sarah Everard, said she found an “unacceptable level of inconsistency” across police forces.
She said “too many” offenders are slipping through the cracks as a result of a “critical failure” to record crime. The Angiolini Inquiry was launched after the murder of Ms Everard by off-duty police officer Wayne Couzens. Ms Everard was abducted, raped and murdered by the former armed Metropolitan Police officer in March 2021.
Responding to the announcement, Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) said: “We know that the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) is not operating efficiently everywhere, with a need to improve how the police share information, particularly as awareness of this and the rate of ‘right to ask’ applications by the public grow.
“Currently, forces take far too long to respond to these requests so if this is to be rolled out across VAWG crimes we need to see rapid improvements. We are also yet to see a robust framework for how the government will hold itself accountable for their cross-government strategy, and we call for more transparency on this. Violence against women and girls will also not be halved without a significant focus on prevention, and we expect to see more investment in preventing abuse.”
The Mirror has long pushed for action, with our Justice for Our Daughters campaign launched in January 2024 after speaking to families seeking justice for their murdered daughters and wives. They were pushing for the minimum sentence for people who commit domestic abuse murders to increase from 15 to 25 years.
