Almost 100 British women killed by known abusers highlights police fai | UK | News

Almost 100 British women were killed by abusive men who were known to police in just five years, it has been revealed. Out of the recorded 95 domestic death cases police failings have been identified in 20 while at least 14 cases remain “under review”. In response to the shock findings of an ITV News investigation Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips insited eh remains “relatively confident” that in five years’ time the Labour government will have reduced that number.

She said: “Everything will have been done to seek to reduce that number and there is no shortage of will here at the Home Office and in this government. I feel relatively confident that in five years’ time we will reduce the incidences of violence and in that we will reduce the incidences of fatal violence.”

Of the 95 cases analysed from 2019 to 2023, the majority of killers were previously known to police as perpetrators of domestic abuse.

One of those was Daniel Patten who stabbed his ex-partner Regan Tierney to death in her home in Manchester as their children slept in the room next door. He then killed himself.

The mother of two had repeatedly contacted police pleading for help after suffering years of domestic abuse.

Eight days before she was murdered, police visited her after Patten had threatened to “put her head on a spike”, but a domestic violence risk assessment was left incomplete and in parts incorrect.

An inquest in July found Regan had received insufficient support and protection from agencies and that there were missed opportunities to help her. The inquest concluded it was possible that this additional support and protection could have saved her life.

Her sister Shannon Tierney and brother-in-law Alan Shaw were two of the first on the scene after Regan’s murder. Speaking for the first time they told the broadcaster: “Alan got a phone call off my grandma and she said, your grandad’s got a phone call off Danny saying, “You need to get the kids. I’ve killed Regan”, Shannon said.

“I said ‘What do you mean? No he hasn’t. No he hasn’t.”

“We had to go and wake our daughter up. And we got her into a taxi. And as soon as we got there, I just knew.

“I just jumped out of the taxi, sprinted over. And one of the officers, I’ll never forget this, he grabbed me and pushed me backwards. And I said, I told you this was going to happen. They were my first words. I told you this was going to happen.”

Shannon had known for years that Daniel had been abusive and controlling. ‌In 2009, Patten attempted to strangle Regan. The following year, he smashed a window at their home in a temper. In 2012, he broke her nose at a friend’s house, and was later convicted.

Five years on, a domestic abuse referral form was sent following another episode of abuse. In 2018 and 2019, he made multiple threats to kill Regan and members of her family.

In April 2019, Regan finally asked Patten to leave and the following month, she met a new partner.

However, research shows that when a partner leaves an abusive relationship the risk to them actually increases as the perpetrator feels a loss of control.

While Regan changed the locks to her house she failed to change the lock on the garage door. That gave Patten the opportunity to take a key, break in and stab her to death.

Shannon and Alan say they partially blame the police for what happened.

“There’s no trust, there’s no faith”, they said. “They’re a public service, they’re meant to protect Regan and they didn’t.”

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has been working with academics since 2020 to study every domestic homicide and suicide following domestic abuse in England and Wales.  Last year it found 68% of victims and/or perpetrators of domestic homicides were known to an agency, while 54% were known to police.

They say this highlights the importance of a prompt, robust police response from the outset of a report.

But in 20 cases ITV analysed they claimed police failings were identified.

In one case, a victim made a number of allegations that the perpetrator had sexually assaulted her, stalked and harassed her and left the children alone in the flat so he could follow her.

Despite this, the officers decided not to arrest him. The following day he killed her.

In another case, officers failed to recognise coercive and controlling behaviour, which became an offence in 2015. Despite this, it was revealed in the inquest none of the officers who attended before the victim’s death had received any training in coercive and controlling behaviour.

Had the perpetrator been arrested for the offence, the coroner suggested he would not have been bailed and allowed to go on and kill her.

One of the government’s manifesto commitments was to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade, but police chiefs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and Victims Commissioner all recently warned the Prime Minister he will fail to meet that target without significant investment in services.

Ms Phiilips added: “Of course I will always want more, of course I will want to spend as much as possible on all of these things.

“However, throwing money at poor performing police forces…making more of that bad practice isn’t going to change things.

“Cultural change, changing the standards of how things are done, we’ve got to start doing things and funding things that stop this happening in the first place.”

She added: “I would say to every police force in the country that what they currently do isn’t good enough and needs to be improved. And we will work alongside them to improve that.

“It’s very very tiring when I am told lessons will be learned and they aren’t learned.”

A recent strategy implemented by the government called ‘Raneem’s Law’ saw domestic abuse specialists embedded in five police control rooms across the country.

It followed the death of Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49, who were murdered by Ms Oudeh’s ex-partner in 2018.

On the night of the murders, Ms Oudeh had called West Midlands Police four times to register concerns for her safety, and the force had previously responded to 10 domestic abuse incidents linked to the case.

One of the forces taking part in the trial is West Midlands Police.

Maia Mason, force contact supervisor said: “In the first three months we’ve seen a 40% increase in the first month alone, of call handlers showing that professional curiosity specifically when it comes to those vulnerable factors which can have a massive role to play when it comes to victimization.

“Each time that someone calls through they need to feel supported, they need to feel believed. Because if they don’t have that first time round it could affect if they ever call through again which could put them at real risk.”

Raneem’s aunt Nour Norris, who campaigned for Raneem’s law said: “It makes me feel really emotional that Raneem and Khaola’s lives are going to be living forever, they’re going to save lives and help others.

“It has taken years to get to this point and it needs to be rolled out nationwide.”

In the case of Regan Tierney, a spokesperson for the Greater Manchester Police said: “We have fully accepted the conclusion of the coroner at Regan’s inquest last August. We understand that there were missed opportunities identified and acknowledge that improvements made to ways of working since will not take away the pain from Regan’s family. Greater Manchester police’s improved response to domestic abuse has helped halve homicides since 2021 and is seeing more victims kept safe from offenders.”

Read more on this story at ITN News