Nearly half of women killed by a male partner had either tried to leave or already ended their relationship, a chilling new report has found.
The latest annual Femicide Census report says that of the 122 women killed by a man in 2022, 62 (51%) were killed by a current or former partner.
Of those, at least 25 (40%) were taking steps towards leaving or had left the relationship when they were killed.
Clarrie O’Callaghan, co-founder of the Femicide Census, told Metro: ‘For over 14 years Femicide Census research has reported that leaving a relationship is one of the most dangerous times for a woman.
‘When men kill a woman who is trying to leave them, it is often seen as a loss of control. In fact, it is a last attempt to exert control.
‘These women are caught in the most devastating vicious circles. They need to leave dangerous men but as the research shows it is critical that women are supported in leaving safely.
‘The Government-created crisis in funding for specialist domestic abuse services and for refuge spaces puts women’s lives at risk.
‘There is no chance of halving men’s violence against women as the Government claims to want to achieve without significant investment in life-saving domestic abuse services.’
Data shows that 57% of male perpetrators were known to have histories of violence against women and or were subject to monitoring or restrictions when they killed.
Men used the brute force of their bodies – stamping, strangling or kicking to death – in the killings of 20 women (17%), according to the report’s findings.
They include Jordan McSweeney, who murdered law graduate Zara Aleena in a brutal attack as she was walking home in Ilford, east London, in June 2022.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@metro.co.uk.
Read more:
The subsequent inquest revealed failures ‘across multiple agencies’ that contributed to her death.
McSweeney, who had 28 previous convictions for 69 separate offences, was wrongly assessed as ‘medium’ rather than ‘high’ risk and missed several probation appointments.
However, his recall to prison was not issued until two days before Zara’s murder.
‘The State is able to solve most known femicides – nearly all perpetrators are caught – but what it does not seem able to do despite 14 years of our reporting on femicides, is prevent more women being killed,’ Ms O’Callaghan said.
‘There are known and repeated state failures, known and repeated risks ignored as is so much learning from a multitude of sources that we should have the lowest rate of femicide in the world.
‘It is nothing short of state-sanctioned weaponised incompetence.’
Femicide Census co-founder Karen Ingala Smith said: ‘Men who are known to be a danger to women are too frequently at liberty to harm, rape and kill.
‘The Labour Party, now in Government, has pledged to halve serious violence, including men’s violence against women, in ten years. They are going to have to act fast and ambitiously to even approach that target.’
Metro’s year-long This Is Not Right campaign is highlighting the growing level of crimes by men against women and girls.
The critical finding in this latest report is that figures show more women were killed by their own son (12) than by a stranger (11).
Ms O’Callaghan said: ‘We are in a situation where for a women experiencing violence from their sons, there are very few direct services for these women.
‘Of course, they can access domestic violence services, but it isn’t even seen as an issue that actually should be addressed. And there are going to be a lot of women fearful of their experiences not realising it is actually domestic violence.
‘You are in a position where you are the one there to protect your children from the state, and therefore it is very, very difficult for you to be the person that calls the police and to know your child could be put through the criminal justice process because of your actions.
‘But our figures show that it is absolutely necessary to do. You cannot cope on your own if your children, in particular, if your son is violent.’
One high profile name absent from the list of 121 killed women is Kiena Dawes, who ended her life in 2022 naming her partner as driving her to suicide with his abuse.
He was found guilty of assault and coercive control but cleared of manslaughter. To date there has only been one successful manslaughter prosecution involving a man being found responsible for a woman’s suicide, which came after a guilty plea.
The report notes that the previous Conservative government said it had no plans to create a specific offence of manslaughter caused by controlling or coercive behaviour and that existing law already covers such circumstances.
Ms O’Callaghan stopped short of calling for a such new law, saying more manslaughter cases involving suicide after domestic abuse ‘could and should’ have been prosecuted.
The Home Office has said the government’s delayed ‘Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy’ will be published this month.
The report’s authors hope it will be the first to use the word ‘femicide’ – generally understood as the killing of women because they are women – saying: ‘If they cannot or will not even name the problem, we have little hope for them being able to identify and carry out the actions necessary to reduce femicide.’
Ms O’Callaghan said: ‘Previous strategies have never even addressed homicide – they have never even raised the issue of how we tackle the homicide of women.
‘Femicide – the killing of women by men – is something that is the biggest reason that women are killed within this country and it is something that the government absolutely has to hold up and address.’
Learn more about femicide
- On average, one woman a week is killed by a partner/ex-partner
- Of the 249 female domestic homicide victims between March 2020 and March 2022, the suspect was male in a staggering 241 cases
- Women’s Aid have found that women are over three times more likely to be killed by a partner than by not wearing a seatbelt
- A Killed Women survey found that only 4% of bereaved family members said their loved one’s killing was not preventable at all
- Nearly half (49%) of women murdered by their partner or ex-partner are killed less than a month after separation, 79% killed within six months of separation and 90% killed within a year of separation (ONS, 2017)
Isabelle Younane, head of external affairs at Women’s Aid, said: ‘The new Femicide Census report makes for incredibly disturbing and sombre reading.
‘Most tragically, it demonstrates that we continue to live in a world where violence against women and girls (VAWG) is prevalent, and where the system continuously fails to keep women and children safe from harm, leading to deadly consequences.
‘The data reinforces that which we know to be true – women are most likely to be killed by a current or former partner, with the murder most often taking place in the home.
‘The report also highlights that the end of a relationship is often the most dangerous time for a woman, working instead as a trigger for violent and controlling men. The ongoing, high demand for refuge spaces and other frontline services should be seen as a dire call to action for our government to invest more and save lives.
‘More must be done to ensure that women and children are safe. We need to take a whole society approach to tackle the misogyny and sexism that underpin VAWG, from our schools, through to fixing our broken justice system.
‘We must come together to make sure that women are believed when reporting abuse, but also, that they are kept safe from those seeking to cause them harm.’
Ellie Butt, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Refuge, said: ‘Sadly, it is no surprise that femicide rates remain devastatingly high.
‘Perpetrators often have a known history of violence against women, yet police and other agencies continue to miss opportunities to recognise the warning signs and act swiftly to hold them accountable.
‘At Refuge, we know that leaving an abuser is often the most dangerous time for women, carrying the highest risk of domestic homicide. Last year, around 40% of calls to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline were related to abuse from a former partner.
‘The figures in the Femicide Census Report are shocking, but these numbers alone do not tell the full story. Violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, remains severely underreported, with many deaths – such as those resulting from suicide – going unrecognised.
‘Many of the women we support tell us about the toll abuse has taken on their mental health, with some experiencing suicidal thoughts. And yet, despite this, deaths by suicide are still not formally recognised as domestic abuse-related deaths.
‘From inconsistent and frequently inadequate police responses to the chronic underfunding of lifesaving specialist services, women are being failed across the board – with fatal consequences.
‘If the Government is serious about halving violence against women and girls, the upcoming VAWG strategy must transform the response to domestic abuse, so that women no longer needlessly lose their lives.’
Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: ‘The scale of violence and abuse suffered by women by and girls in this country by men, be it their partners, ex-partners or tragically even their own sons is nothing less than a national emergency.
‘That’s why we have pledged to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, including tackling child to parent abuse through an effective system to ensure problematic behaviours and victims are identified early, and services respond effectively to stop harmful behaviour from continuing or escalating.
‘But we know more needs to be done which is why our forthcoming Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy will seek to overhaul the policing and criminal justice response to domestic abuse to ensure that more victims are protected and more perpetrators are punished.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
