Baroness Gale
Main Page: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Gale's debates with the Home Office
(4 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford
All things being equal, it should be in force this time next year.
Baroness Gale (Lab)
My Lords, at least 59 women have been killed in the UK by men who claimed that their death was as the result of sex games gone wrong. According to the campaigning organisation We Can’t Consent To This, in the last five years this defence has been used successfully in six out of 14 cases that went to trial, resulting in a conviction for manslaughter or even an acquittal. Can the Minister confirm that the Government will use the Domestic Abuse Bill to ban the “rough sex” defence?
Baroness Williams of Trafford
My Lords, there are some complexities in this, but it is absolutely right that we reinforce current case law so that a person cannot consent to something that leads to serious injury or even death. We are looking at the best way to achieve this.