Non-fatal strangulation set to become criminal offence after calls from domestic abuse campaigners

Non-fatal strangulation is set to be made a specific offence in England and Wales after the justice secretary acknowledged police and prosecutors treat the crime too leniantly.

Perpetrators will face up to seven years in jail under planned new laws which follow calls from campaigners for a new offence to recognise the seriousness of domestic abuse. 

Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, is said to be planning to add a new offence to a police and sentencing bill next month.

It comes after Baroness Newlove, the former victims’ commissioner, proposed an amendment to the Domestic Abuse bill Making it a criminal offence when the landmark legislation came before the House of Lords last Tuesday.

Strangulation is known to be a significant indicator in abuse cases which later result in murder and is reported by 37 per cent of survivors deemed high-risk. But the crime frequently only leads to a charge of common assault – equivalent to a slap or a blow which leaves a bruise – or no charges at all.

A study last year by Bangor University and North Wales Brain Injury Service published found a woman who survives strangulation is eight times more likely to be murdered.

Researchers found it was common for strangulation to leave no visible injuries but victims suffered symptoms  for days or even weeks after the attack. These can include cardiac arrest, stroke, miscarriage, incontinence, speech disorders, seizures, paralysis, and other forms of long-term brain injury.

Nogah Ofer, a solicitor at the Centre for Women’s Justice, a legal charity which has spearheaded calls for non-fatal strangulation to be made a specific offence, said: “It is time that as a society we stopped normalising and ignoring strangulation.

“We look forward to the police, prosecutors and medical professionals working together to address this with the seriousness it deserves, and hope that survivors of domestic abuse will have greater confidence to seek justice.”

We Can’t Consent to This, a campaign group which campaigned for the end of the so-called ‘rough sex’ defence, welcomed the move to change the law and warned existing legislation was “not up to the task” of prosecuting the offence.

“We've heard from many victims of this terrible crime who felt that their assaults were not taken seriously: in some cases with police deciding not to mark it up as a crime,” a spokesperson said.

"We’re so glad that the government has listened to the evidence that a new offence was needed - in particular the stories from the survivors of strangulation who have not had the response they should from the criminal justice system.”

Other than stabbing, strangulation and asphyxiation are most common ways in which men kill women.

The families of domestic abuse victims had called for the such violence to be taken more seriously.

Cathy McIntosh, whose sister Anne-Marie Nield was murdered by her ex-parter Richard Howarth in May 2016, previously told The Independent  she believed an offence of non-fatal strangulation would have saved her life. 

“After my sister’s murder, it was a great shock to learn about Richard Howarth’s history of violence against other women,” Ms McIntosh said. “The police knew that he was a dangerous man but no one properly identified the risk that he posed to Anne Marie, in particular, that he had attempted to strangle both her and a previous partner. The police didn’t recognise that meant she was more likely to be killed by him”.