And a further disclosure under Clare’s Law – which was introduced in 2014 following the murder of 36-year-old Clare Woods in Manchester by her ex-boyfriend – has been made since the start of the year and four more applications are currently being processed.
The figures come as new statistics show that the number of high-risk domestic abuse cases being dealt with by the States police rose significantly last year.
During 2017 the force dealt with 998 domestic incidents – not necessarily prosecuted crimes – compared to 956 in 2016. Of last year’s cases 329 were classified as high risk – a 20 per cent rise on the previous year. A large number of the cases involved children and the majority are repeat cases.
Commenting on the rise, Detective Inspector Craig Jackson from the Public Protection Unit said that domestic abuse had always existed but people were now more confident about reporting it. He added that the States police took a ‘proactive’ approach to investigating and preventing it.
However, he urged more people to use Clare’s Law – otherwise known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme – if they had concerns about their own relationship or that of a friend or relative.
‘I still feel it may be under-reported, certainly in harder to reach communities like the Portuguese and Polish communities where it maybe is entrenched and tolerated more,’ he said.
‘Domestic abuse happens across the board and we know that males are less likely to report it. In Jersey we are slightly above the UK for males reporting domestic abuse, but only slightly.’
He added that many people did not realise that Clare’s Law could be used not just by those in the relationship but by those who may be concerned about a friend or relative.
‘We need to educate family and friends, people who think that their family may be in that violent relationship, that they don’t have to do nothing.
‘They can go to our website and make an application. It doesn’t mean that we will necessarily do it but we will certainly look into it.
‘We keep all information on file and if circumstances do change then it is right that we revisit it.’
