Domestic Violence (Police Response)

Angela Watkinson Excerpts

Thursday 10th April 2014 Westminster Hall

[Dame Angela Watkinson (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)]

First, may I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Mary Macleod) on securing this debate?

Domestic violence is a very important subject and extremely difficult to resolve. I start by apologising to my male colleagues, as I prepared my speech from the female perspective. However, I absolutely accept and acknowledge that all my comments could equally apply to male victims of domestic abuse.

Rather like my hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr Newmark), I will particularly focus on emotional bullying and intimidation, which is the most difficult type to deal with. It does not leave any visible marks. There are scars, which can persist for many years, but they are mental ones. Many culprits are the type of man who cannot accept his partner as an equal and who has to control, diminish, humiliate, bully and intimidate them, to give himself power, disguise his own inadequacy and boost his own self-esteem.

Women who suffer that sort of treatment habitually hide the truth from the outside world. Why? First, they are ashamed—ashamed that their partner thinks so little of them that they can treat them like that. Secondly, it is because they fear they will not be believed, because their partner’s public behaviour and private behaviour are so very different. Thirdly, the longer the bullying continues, the greater the relentless erosion of confidence, self-esteem and self-worth, and the woman is progressively less able to fight back, especially if she has children and uses appeasement tactics to protect them, or if she has no money to leave home and live independently.

The men who commit such abuse score very highly on the recognised scale of characteristics of psychopaths. They are controlling. They need to be in charge all the time, and are unable to give and take, even in relation to trivial domestic matters such as what meals will be eaten and when or what television programmes will be watched. They can be superficially charming and glib, and can put on an act in social circumstances, entrenching the woman’s view that she will not believed if she tries to share her experiences of abuse with others.

Such men have a grandiose sense of self-worth. They are never wrong; everything is somebody else’s fault. They are manipulative. They enjoy making other people do something that they do not want to do, such as leaving a social occasion they happen to be enjoying or eating something that they do not like. They lack remorse, guilt and empathy for others. They also have poor behavioural control—for example, giving in to outbursts of uncontrollable rage—and they are unable to accept responsibility for their actions.

That list is not comprehensive; there are about 30 typical traits of a psychopath. We all know people like that. There are many in the business world. They are able to make big decisions, because they have no interest in how other people will be affected by them.

When a victim finds the courage to go to the police, her situation can worsen. Her tormentor knows that she has complained. There is no visible evidence of his behaviour. It is one person’s word against another’s, and I can understand how difficult it is for police to intervene. Her partner will be adept at denying his behaviour, doing so with confidence and superficial charm, on occasion even turning the tables and putting the blame on her.

I know of a particular case where the woman found the courage to report what was happening to her to the police—in this case it was the Essex police, as Essex was where she happened to live—and continued to do so regularly. However, the attitude of the police varied widely from occasion to occasion, depending on the officer involved. Some were very understanding and sympathetic; others were disbelieving and dismissive. Even police cautions did not moderate the man’s behaviour. At least every incident was recorded and the file on him grew, but every time the woman went home to her own house she suffered continuing intimidation and harassment, until it became unbearable and she was forced out.

My main point is that whether or not the police are sympathetic in such circumstances, their hands are largely tied. They are unable to take action without evidence. Even if the woman had a broken arm, there would be no evidence that the man was responsible, unless someone had seen it happen, but abusers ensure that there are no witnesses to their actions as they cannot confront their own failings.

In the police station that that woman went to, there are posters all round the walls advertising Clare’s law, which we heard about from my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth. This law is new and enables victims of domestic violence to check the record of their partner to see whether he has a history of abuse. The posters also say:

“Verbal, mental and physical abuse is a crime.”

I congratulate Essex police, because at the beginning of March it had a domestic abuse awareness week. I have the press release for that; it says that Essex police has a

“new Domestic Abuse Crime Unit”,

which is great. It also says that Essex police has a

“commitment…to offer better protection and support to victims of domestic abuse.”

Interestingly, it also says:

“We are determined to take a hard-line approach with offenders; to make them the focus of police attention and prosecute them for any and all offences they commit.”

On the ground, the police say that domestic violence is a civil matter. As the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) said, if the victim wants an injunction or a non-molestation order she has to pay for it herself. Unless she is on benefits, there is no financial help available to her. The person I am talking about earns just too much from her part-time job to be eligible for any assistance, but she is unable to self-fund any legal action. However, if the perpetrator were charged, he would be entitled to legal aid. Domestic violence is a very serious crime and I welcome the opportunity to draw attention to it in this debate, but how can the person I am talking about and the many other women like her get justice?

In his summing-up, will my hon. Friend the Minister say that he will raise this issue with the Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, the Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims, and any other of his colleagues who can join together to explore ways to make justice accessible to victims of verbal and mental abuse who cannot afford legal representation? At the moment, their only option is to leave their home, in the interests of their personal safety, while their abuser stays put. That is not justice. The problem is less about identification and awareness, and more about developing solutions that are fair to the victims.



[Mr Andrew Rosindell in the Chair]

--- Later in debate ---

[Norman Baker]

I entirely understand that. The hon. Lady made the point about the cost of implementation very well. I was dealing with the non-molestation point in the sense that I was trying to ensure that someone who had been subject to domestic violence was secure from further attack or violence. The protection order that we have just introduced provides a period when the victim can stay in their home, the perpetrator is removed, and a specialist independent domestic violence advocate can give advice. IDVAs should be allowed to support victims throughout the criminal justice process. I am happy to take the matter up with the Ministry of Justice and to take it forward with the interministerial group that I mentioned.

[Dame Angela Watkinson]

I am doing my best to follow the change in policy. Will the Minister clarify whether the sort of harassment charges that we have been talking about are now criminal and not civil? That seems to be the crucial point. If it is a civil matter, the victim is liable for the cost of obtaining a non-molestation order. If it is a criminal matter, will it be free of charge?

[Norman Baker]

I will write to my hon. Friend on that specific point. However, the protection order is an alternative that is immediate—it immediately protects the victim. I will write to hon. Members here about the nature of the non-molestation order so that the information is more widely available.

When introducing the debate, my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth asked for an assurance that the work that is under way will focus on effective outcomes and not simply on the production of endless statistics and reports. I am happy to give her that assurance. We need culture change and that is certainly central to the work that the Home Secretary and I are taking forward. We are not simply interested in statistics; we want to see real change on the ground to benefit the people who are adversely affected by this terrible crime.

My hon. Friend asked what could be done to encourage greater reporting of domestic violence incidents. I am happy to tell her that domestic violence reporting is on the rise and although the figures from the crime survey for England and Wales suggest that the level of domestic abuse and violence is roughly flat, the number of incidents reported to the police has risen, which suggests that more people are confident about reporting such incidents to the police. More of the incidents that are occurring are being formally reported. That is good, and shows that sometimes when crime is officially rising, it may be because more people are coming forward to report crimes that hitherto were hidden. That must be helpful.

My hon. Friend asked whether the Home Office would review the priorities set by police and crime commissioners to check whether domestic abuse is included. The Home Secretary has already taken these matters up with each PCC, and I think PCCs throughout the country now understand not only that this is an important issue for the Government, which it certainly is, but that their own populations are drawing it to their attention rather more. I am confident that more and more attention will be given, in a more structured way, to taking that issue forward in local police plans. The challenge, as I have mentioned, is not simply getting PCCs to include it in their plans; it is to make sure that police follow it through in a way that is effective to protect victims of domestic violence. As a general point, the national oversight group, which the Home Secretary has set up and will chair, and which I sit on, will make sure that domestic abuse is a priority for all areas. If there are any areas where it is not taken seriously, that will change, because we intend to make sure of that.

As to how we would ensure that guidance from the College of Policing will be fully integrated in day-to-day policing operations, the Home Secretary and I expect that all chief constables will have plans in place by September, as I have mentioned, to drive a culture change in front-line policing and, again, a national oversight group will bring together the College of Policing and police leadership to ensure that training is effective and that it is rolled out across the UK.

The hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), who is not in his place, and one or two other hon. Members referred to domestic violence affecting men. Figures were quoted to suggest that a large number of men are affected. I have asked for that to be dug into more, because I want to make sure that we compare like with like. I suspect that female victims of domestic violence are, overwhelmingly, those in a relationship with a man who commits domestic violence or abuse against them. I want to make sure that male victims represent the same thing. The figures may include male-on-male cases such as fathers and sons, or brothers. I want to make sure that the figures do not misrepresent the situation. Vera Baird, the PCC for the north-east—I cannot remember what the area is called—mentioned that to me. There is, of course, some domestic violence against men, and that needs to be factored in. I was asked whether there are refuges for men, and I am aware of at least one, which opened in Berkshire in 2012, which accommodates males, including those with children, who have had to flee domestic abuse. There may be others that I am not aware of.

The hon. Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer) asked what we were doing to deal with religious groups that ostracise victims. That is of course a difficult matter to deal with, but the Under-Secretary of State for International Development, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone), and I have met religious leaders to talk about female genital mutilation in particular, and to try to engage their help in tackling that version of domestic violence—or violence against women, anyway. I am keen to go further with that, so I shall be looking to make more progress with religious leaders in that regard. I think that the hon. Gentleman also asked whether there was any guidance for police on same-sex couples when there is violence. The current police guidance on investigating domestic abuse, which was issued in 2008, covers same-sex relationships. The intention is that it will be updated to build into it the findings from the HMIC report.

The hon. Member for Braintree raised the issue of coercive behaviour and asked whether a pattern of such behaviour can constitute domestic abuse. The answer is yes. He also asked whether there are problems in proving that, and the answer is yes. We believe, and the HMIC report suggests, that police forces do not keep good data on repeat victims, which makes it hard to prove a pattern. It is not, however, impossible. The situation must change, and that will be a focus of the national oversight group, which, as I mentioned, the Home Secretary chairs. I do not think that it is a question of the law, because domestic abuse is a crime, and coercive behaviour is part of the definition, as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth, when she referred to the change that we made. Indeed, the hon. Member for Warrington North also mentioned the change in the definition of domestic abuse. The issue is ensuring that the evidence is collected in order to enable a successful prosecution to be carried through, rather than necessarily finding a new law. The law to deal with coercive behaviour and repeat patterns is already there. However, it is of course an important matter and I fully accept that it is easier to deal with isolated incidents than ongoing, what might be called low-level, domestic abuse. I am sure that that will also be covered by the work of the national oversight group.