Essex Police reveal data on domestic violence dislcosures

It was a tragic event which led to legislation being named after her to help women and men stand up against domestic abuse.

Clare, who was 36 at the time, was killed by her ex-boyfriend, George Appleton, a man who had served prison sentences for stalking, harassing, and abusing women.

Over the next few years, Clare’s family fought for a way to alert possible victims of domestic violence of a partner’s prior offences.

This came to fruition through Clare’s Law, also known as The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, set up in 2014.

Gone but not forgotten - Clare Wood

A Freedom of Information request to Essex Police has shown it has disclosed information on 400 occasions from January to June this year. 

In total 729 applications were made to the force and it proceeded with 419 cases. 

The latest figures come after Essex Police had been rated as the worst performing of all forces in sharing information to requests made under the legislation.

Figures up to March last year from the time the law came in in 2014 showed the force had only made 262 disclosures.

Since then the force has changed how it responds to requests through Clare's Law. 

In recent years, more people have been using the right to ask.

In 2022, there were 831 right to ask cases considered in Essex and last year, there were 979.

Detective Superintendent Matt Cornish, the force’s lead for Domestic Abuse, said: “In January 2023 we undertook a major review of our response to domestic abuse in Essex with an aim of implementing the College of Policing-approved Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment (DARA), and continue to improve our response to DA victims and the management of DA perpetrators.

Detective Superintendent Matt Cornish, the force’s lead for Domestic Abuse, (Image: Essex Police)

“As a part of this project, we updated our approach to Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) disclosures; ensuring adherence to the new Home Office guidance, seeking to improve both the number of disclosures made and enhancing the content of those disclosures.

“This ensures we are now reaching even more potential victims of DA and giving them the information, they needed to make an informed decision.

“Our work around the DVDS aspect is backed by research led by Essex University’s Dr Kat Hadjimatheou, who also sits on the national DVDS working group.

“We recognised we needed to do more to support victims and potential victims of domestic abuse through the DVDS.

“Now, we have a specialist Domestic Abuse Review Team (DART) of more than 20 officers focusing on these disclosures.”

Vehicle - an Essex Police car (Image: N/A) There is also a service called ‘right to know’ which is triggered when the force receive intelligence about the safety of a person.

After appropriate checks are made, the police then decide a disclosure should be made for safeguarding purposes.

The Freedom of Information request showed in the first six months of the year the force made 207 disclosures to the public. 

The data shows 305 cases were considered from January to June this year. 

In total 238 were proceeded but there were 32 cases were the disclosure was authorised but Essex Police was unable to give to the person at risk.

Statistics - an illustrative image of domestic violence

In 2022, there were 353 right to know cases considered by Essex Police, last year, there were 298 considered.

The right to know applications which resulted in disclosures were eight in 2022 and 81 in 2023.

To find out more about the FOI, visit tinyurl.com/259zps4m.