An investigation has revealed huge failures by UK police forces to protect victims of stalking and domestic abuse.
In three years, 49 women were killed by stalkers, partners or ex-partners despite reporting them to the police, data obtained through Freedom of Information requests from Broadly UK shows.
Following response from 29 out of 45 police forces, Broadly and anti-stalking charity Paladin have launched a new initiative called Unfollow Me, pushing for change.
Sirin Kale, Associate Editor Broadly UK, said: I remember reading about the death of Molly McLaren, murdered by an ex-boyfriend in broad daylight in a public car park, despite McLaren calling the police repeatedly about his stalking and predatory behaviour before her death.
Her case was so horrifying I thought it must be unique – until I researched further and realised it wasnt.
I wanted to find out exactly how many women had been killed in this way: so I FOI-ed every police force in the UK, with shocking results.
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She added: Many of these women would be alive today had we – the public, the government, and the police – took the crime of stalking and abuse more seriously.
I hope this investigation will help push forward that change.
Zoe Dronfield who was almost killed by her ex-partner campaigns alongside Paladin for a register of stalkers and domestic abusers – similar to the sex offenders list.
Zoe told Metro.co.uk: I think it will send out a huge message that you will end up on a register if you do these kind of offences, whereas at the moment you can be a serial domestic abuser of serial stalker and all of those incidents are held in isolation.
Zoe was stabbed in the neck by ex Jason Smith, who also stamped on her hear and slashed her wrists.
The mother-of-two barely escaped and sustained a brain haemorrhage, stab wounds, cracked eye socket, snapped arm and broken nose.
Smith was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
She said: If they introduce the register now and he comes out of prison, hes only going to be 40 years old, still a fairly young man, if he starts a new relationship he will be caught on the register.
Zoe, who has been raising awareness with Paladin since her attack four years ago said its the reaction from the police that is most shocking.
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She continued: When you feel uncomfortable, and usually your gut feeling is right, youre contacting the police to say “this doesnt feel right” and youre told “just turn off your phone” and its just minimised, you then start questioning yourself and thinking Im just overdramatising it, but actually youre in a huge amount of danger.
They should know these warning signs.
If its just perceived as “just leaving some flowers” its perceived as a nice thing to do but when you add up that pattern of behaviour and the escalation actually happens over time is really insidious and quite scary.
I think its really important to have the register in order to drive the culture change within people, not just the police, but society as a whole so we look at this behaviour which is unacceptable.
I wouldnt want my daughter to be in such a relationship, which is why I campaign so hard for it.
Paladin is asking MPs to sign and vote for a register to go through as part of the domestic violence bill.
Over 150,000 people have so far signed a petition in support of the Stalker Register.
Zoe added: It needs to be wrapped in legislation, so it becomes law. Law drives change.
Something needs to be done so if they [police] do get a call, theyre mandatory action is to check if the person is on there.
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As with paedophiles, we dont ask child why a child is playing in the playground, so if a women calls up and says shes frightened they need to say “lets have a look at the history of the perpetrator” to see if theyre on there, instead of minimising it.
Women identified through Broadlys data includes mother-of-two Kerry McAuley, 32, who was murdered by her boyfriend Joe Storey, 27, in January 2017.
Storey had eight previous convictions of offences against four women, with one incident involving him punching his pregnant ex-partner in the stomach.
He was convicted to life in prison.
Melinda Korosi, 33, told police her ex-partner Miklos Verebes had raped her, but didnt charge him. He later broke into her house and punched her to death.
Further results show that the West Yorkshire Police – the fourth largest police force in England and Wales – were the worst performing force when it came to protecting women. Nine women were killed by their partner, ex-partner, or stalker over the last three years despite previously reporting them.
West Yorkshire were followed by Avon and Somerset Constabulary, which is responsible for policing in cities including Bath and Bristol. The force reported a total of seven deaths occurring over the last three years.
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Just 17 cases were reported as being referred to the IOPC for investigation, out of the 49 deaths. In these 17 cases. Broadly was able to identify just four cases in which officer failings were found, and sanctions or training were proscribed.
Laura Richards, Founder of anti-stalking charity Paladin said: These figures are unacceptable. Many of the men identified through these figures will be serial abusers who target multiple victims, over time escalating to murder.
These are the most dangerous of cases – they are murders in slow motion – yet women are still not being believed or taken seriously when they report to police.
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