Council told to pay nearly £10k after woman forced to live in unsuitable accommodation for three years – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Croydon Council placed a woman fleeing domestic violence in “unsuitable accommodation” for three years, as well as finding poor complaint handling.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 13th March 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Mother wins appeal over sending of domestic abuse findings made against social worker father to regulator – Local Government Lawyer

‘A High Court judge has allowed an appeal brought by a mother over whether a judgment in long-running private law proceedings that made findings of domestic abuse against the father, who works as a social worker, should be sent to his regulator, Social Work England (SWE).’

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Local Government Lawyer, 10th March 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

High Court ruling expected to widen scope of legal aid for parents – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The High Court’s decision in a challenge brought by a domestic abuse complainant against the Ministry of Justice will widen the scope of legal aid for parents who share caring arrangements, a public law campaign group has said.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 9th March 2023

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

UK mother unlawfully denied legal aid in case against abusive ex, court rules – The Guardian

‘A decision to deny a single mother legal aid to enforce a child custody agreement against her abusive ex-partner was unlawful, the high court has ruled.’

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The Guardian, 9th March 2023

Source: www.theguardian.com

Matthew Selby given life sentence for killing sister – BBC News

‘A man who killed his 15-year-old sister in a caravan has had his sentence increased to life in prison.’

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BBC News, 8th March 2023

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Domestic abuse survivor takes UK justice ministry to court over legal aid – The Guardian

‘A single mother and domestic abuse survivor is taking the Ministry of Justice to court this week after being refused legal aid because she was deemed to have no dependents, even though she had applied for the funding to enforce a child custody arrangement.’

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The Guardian, 6th March 2023

Source: www.theguardian.com

Domestic abusers face crackdown in raft of new measures – Home Office

Posted February 21st, 2023 in domestic violence, electronic monitoring, news, probation, sentencing by tracey

‘Tougher management of most dangerous abusers and new protections for victims.’

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Home Office, 20th February 2023

Source: www.gov.uk

Charities urge Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to guarantee better protection for women in Family Courts – Family Law

Posted February 21st, 2023 in cross-examination, domestic violence, family courts, harassment, news, victims by tracey

‘The Family Courts are failing survivors of domestic abuse, according to 28 leading women’s charities, solicitors and survivors. A letter signed by the group has been delivered to Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab today, calling for urgent action to stop the practice of perpetrators of domestic abuse from cross examining their victims in court.’

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Family Law, 20th February 2023

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Domestic abusers to be more closely monitored and electronically tagged – BBC News

‘The most dangerous domestic abusers will be monitored more closely and electronically tagged as part of a new crackdown, the government has said.’

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BBC News, 20th February 2023

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Domestic abuse victims ‘still being cross-examined by alleged perpetrator’ – Law Society’s Gazette

‘Victims of domestic abuse are still being cross-examined by alleged perpetrators in the family courts despite the “appalling practice” being banned by the Domestic Abuse Act, women’s charities and solicitors have told the lord chancellor.

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Law Society's Gazette, 12th February 2023

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Prosecutors drop attempted rape case against Mason Greenwood – The Guardian

‘The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction” after key witnesses withdrew their cooperation from the investigation.’

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The Guardian, 2nd February 2023

Source: www.theguardian.com

Police Receive Seven Reports Of So-Called Honour-Based Abuse A Day – Each Other

‘Between March 2021 and March 2022 there were 2,887 honour-based abuse-related (HBA) offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, the second consecutive rise in HBA-related offences. Approximately seven cases are reported every day. However, the Home Office says that these cases are likely to only represent a small proportion of the actual offences committed.’

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Each Other, 27th January 2022

Source: eachother.org.uk

Child Maintenance Service to clamp down on domestic abuse – Family Law

‘Survivors of domestic abuse will be given the choice to allow the CMS to collect and make payments on their behalf – without the consent of an abusive ex-partner. This will prevent perpetrators from using child maintenance as a form of ongoing financial abuse and control and mean survivors will not have to have contact with their ex-partner if there is evidence of domestic violence.’

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Family Law, 26th January 2023

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

K v K – a retreat from progress in the family courts? – Family Law Week

Posted January 31st, 2023 in contact orders, domestic violence, family courts, news, victims by tracey

‘Dr Adrienne Barnett, Reader in Law, Brunel University, London, and Dr Charlotte Proudman, barrister at Goldsmith Chambers and director at Right to Equality, consider whether K v K [2022] EWCA Civ 468 favours the resolution of resource constraints over the safety and welfare of victims of domestic abuse.’

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Family Law Week, 30th January 2023

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

How Deep Does Misogyny Run In The Met? – Each Other

‘The Metropolitan Police Service (Met) was put under “special measures” in 2022, following a series of acts carried out by serving police officers, including: the rape and murder of Sarah Everard, unethical handling of the bodies of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, the strip-search of Child Q, and a series of WhatsApp groups which cultivated rape culture. But that was the tip of the iceberg in unearthing misogyny in the Met.’

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Each Other, 25th January 2023

Source: eachother.org.uk

Met chief ‘can’t promise women reporting sexual offence will not meet officer accused of wrongdoing’ – The Independent

‘The head of the Metropolitan Police said he can’t promise that women reporting sexual offences will not encounter an officer under investigation.’

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The Independent, 17th January 2023

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Killamarsh murders: Probation failings over killer Damien Bendall – BBC News

Posted January 17th, 2023 in domestic violence, murder, news, probation, reports, sentencing by sally

‘A review into how a quadruple murderer was dealt with by probation officers has found failings “at every stage”.’

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BBC News, 17th January 2023

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Where are we with Section 65 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021? – Garden Court Chambers

Posted January 10th, 2023 in chambers articles, cross-examination, domestic violence, news by sally

‘The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force in April 2021. Section 65 of the Act (which amends the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (MFPA) creates prohibitions which “prohibit cross-examination in person”.’

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Garden Court Chambers, 23rd December 2022

Source: www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk

Judge quashes decision letter over discriminatory impact of housing allocations policy on domestic abuse survivor – Local Government Lawyer

Posted January 6th, 2023 in domestic violence, equality, housing, judicial review, local government, news by tracey

“A High Court judge has ruled that a local authority’s housing allocations policy and its application to a domestic abuse survivor amounted to indirect discrimination.”

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Local Government Lawyer, 5th January 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Domestic Violence Indefinite Leave to Remain (DVILR) of the Immigration Rules breaches Article 14 of the ECHR – EIN Blog

Posted January 4th, 2023 in domestic violence, families, human rights, immigration, judicial review, news by sally

‘In these judicial review proceedings, Lieven J held that Appendix FM, specifically the Domestic Violence Indefinite Leave to Remain (DVILR) of the Immigration Rules, and the differential treatment between victims of spousal abandonment inside and outside the UK is not justified and therefore breaches of Article 14 of the ECHR and the Human Rights Act 1998. The fact that the rules protected victims of spousal abandonment if they were present in the UK when they were abandoned, but not if they were outside the UK having been tricked or coerced by their abusive spouse, severely impacted the article 8 rights of the latter victims and could not be justified by the SSHD. AM, the claimant was a national of Pakistan born in 1991. In 2017 she married IM, a British citizen, and she arrived in the UK in December 2017 on a spouse visa valid until August 2020. In December 2018 she gave birth to a daughter. She was subjected to very severe financial, physical, emotional and sexual domestic abuse and, sitting in the Family Division of the High Court, Theis J made findings of very serious domestic abuse against the father. The violence inflicted by IM on AM had resulted in severe and long-lasting physical harm including the removal of one of her ovaries and also a diagnosis of achalasia type 2, which resulted in a weight loss of over 30 kilos.’

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EIN Blog, 3rd January 2023

Source: www.ein.org.uk