Manchester Evening News campaign could lead to change, minister says

A Manchester Evening News campaign following a tragic murder in Wigan could lead to change, a minister has said.

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has told the M.E.N. that cases like the one of Caroline Gore, who was brutally murdered by her abusive ex-partner last year, have led to changes in the law. It comes a year after Caroline, 44, was stabbed to death by David Liptrot, just weeks after he was spared jail for breaching a restraining order against her.

Her family have called for a change in the law, saying that Caroline would 'still be here now' if Liptrot was not allowed to walk free with a suspended sentence. The M.E.N. is now campaigning for a mandatory minimum prison sentence for breaches of protective orders, like the one Liptrot repeatedly ignored, as well as better monitoring.

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Thousands of people have signed the M.E.N.'s petition which was raised by an MP in Parliament earlier this month. The campaign has been also been supported by Wigan council, which has now launched a Domestic Abuse Related Death review into Caroline's case, as well as Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, his deputy and several MPs.

It comes as the government launches a long-awaited trial of a new type of protective order in Greater Manchester today (November 27). Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) will allow courts to impose electronic tagging to make sure perpetrators are adhering to them with the Home Office promising 'tougher sanctions' for rule breakers.

Unlike the current Domestic Violence Protection Orders, which are led by the police and can only last for 28 days, DAPOs can prohibit contact for a lifetime with the victims themselves allowed to apply for them directly. The new orders can also include positive requirements, such as forcing abusers to take part in behaviour change programmes.

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Speaking to the M.E.N. ahead of the two-year pilot launching in Greater Manchester, Ms Phillips said that the government is determined to make sure victims have confidence in the new orders. It comes after several domestic abuse charities told the M.E.N. that survivors often say restraining orders 'aren't worth the paper they're written on'.

The minister, who has taken out restraining orders to protect herself in the past, said she has also heard this 'rhetoric' before. Asked whether she has ever come across cases like Caroline's, she said: "Unfortunately, yes.

"I've read hundreds of domestic homicide reviews in my lifetime. The similarities between each one is harrowing.

"Which is why we are so firmly focused to create new systems that actually have the trust of victims and that actually can work. Because I've seen so many cases where it wasn't for the want of trying of victims to protect themselves.

"It's the Ministry of Justice who handles sentencing and there's a sentencing review going on currently and obviously we will be feeding in with regards to issues around violence against women and girls' crimes. I don't want to preempt what that says.

"What I very much expect with the sentencing review, like everything we do in this office, and everything that the government is seeking to do in any of the violence against women and girls issues that we push forward, they all ultimately come from the ground. They all come from a terrible case. For example, if you look into what we do about non-contact sexual offences, it's entirely borne out of the case of Sarah Everard.

"I sit in front of bereaved families and I've not worked out yet the form of words that lands what I'm trying to say, because there's no way of saying, 'I just wish you didn't have to be this person', as well as being grateful that they're going to change something, that they're going to push things forward and it will be them that's done it. So I would really encourage families.

"It's not for me to say what families campaign on... If that's what the families think, that's what the government should have to respond to. What I refuse to do always when victims come to me is, especially victims who've had all their power and control taken off them, is for them to feel empowered to make those decisions about what they campaign about.

"Cases like this one, like others - the government has put in place Raneem's law, to put specialists in 999 control centres and that's entirely off the back of the case of Raneem in the West Midlands who rang the police, no one came and her and her mother ended up dead. So look, we have huge amounts of precedence for certain cases changing the law - is what I would say to encourage them."

Mrs Phillips said that 'massive improvements' are needed in 'every part of the system' to make sure victims of domestic abuse have confidence in the new DAPOs working. She said: "I'm not just doing the orders, it's part of a regime where I'm expecting police responses to massively increase - and when I say I'm expecting, I'm not just standing over them saying 'I'm expecting you to do much better, you're very naughty, police service'.

"The Home Secretary has announced new standards and regimes that will be put in place that monitor how well police forces are doing and have centres of excellence that teaches other forces to do things. But also, the justice system, the bit after the police, ensuring that our courts are fit for purpose. I work every day, hand in glove with the justice department, to make sure that we're trying to improve. None of this is going to happen overnight."

The Home Office will be putting some resources into the DAPO pilots, which will also be launched in three London boroughs as well as with the British Transport Police today (November 27). This includes covering court fees incurred by police forces for DAPO applications during the initial rollout which will be extended to other areas next year.

However, Ms Phillips said that the pilots will also help determine if police forces and other public services have the capacity to use DAPOs effectively. She said: "Resourcing in a crumbling public sector is not going to happen overnight and it's going to take time. But obviously, we are seeking to resource the police with greater numbers.

"I can't tell police at the moment how to spend their particular budgets, they have independence. But what I will say is that you're exactly right. One of the reasons why we have the rollout the way it is, is that that needs to be tested.

"That needs to be tested to see if the resources in the system are there to make this scheme work. Because you're right, the volume of domestic abuse, the sheer volume of it, is absolutely the problem.

"So making sure that it is exactly right and what resources it's going to take in these areas that it's being trialled in, will help us make this assessment about what might be needed. The Home Office is putting resource into the pilots.

"For a start off, the system of how the positive requirements will be given out is coming centrally currently. What we have to do, we have to make this business as usual. Domestic abuse is business as usual for most police forces.

"We just have to make sure that that always feels like the case. It has to be fundamental to what they do. Not just the DAPOs, not just the announcements around vetting and standards, there is huge amounts of work that needs to go forward to make sure the right amount is given to this, not just in police forces, but everywhere."

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Faulkner, one of GMP's Domestic Abuse leads, said, “We are really pleased to be one of the few forces taking part in the pilot of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders. This will give us the opportunity to work alongside our national partners, such as the Home Office, on shaping policing of the future where it comes to the protection of vulnerable people.

“We have been on a huge improvement journey in the way that we tackle domestic abuse in recent years. Over the past 12 months, we have issued over 1,900 Domestic Violence Protection Notices and arrested over 20,000 individuals suspected of committing domestic-related offences.

“These orders [DAPOs] have the potential to be game-changing, and provide even more opportunities for us to safeguard vulnerable victims of domestic abuse and manage perpetrators, particularly where victims don’t support a criminal prosecution.”