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Wife beaters get police visit
Adam Derbyshire20/12/2006
POLICE have compiled a hit list of the worst 50 perpetrators of domestic violence in Tameside - and are paying each one a special Christmas visit.
Violent partners can expect a knock on the door over the festive period in a crackdown on spiralling levels of abuse.
Advice packs will be handed out to battered wives and culprits are being warned to behave or face Christmas behind bars.
Detective sergeant Vicky McKinlay said: "It won't be tolerated any longer. We are visiting the top 50 offenders in the borough three or four times over the Christmas period to reassure partners and remind those targeted we are monitoring them.
"It has been a source of extreme embarrassment to find themselves among the worst offenders on the list when we turn up on the doorstep.
"We are careful not to antagonise the situation and always make it clear the victim has not called us out.
"But we feel the operation is vital. One victim in our top five has called out officers 70 times in the past two years. And many victims will suffer up to 35 attacks before going to the police."
Reports of domestic violence have increased every Christmas since 2002, reaching 757 attacks locally during last December alone - a 19 per cent jump over three years.
Police claim the figures don't paint a true picture and put the increase down to more people coming forward.
DS McKinlay said: "Usually we deal with 450 incidents a month, but there is always a sharp seasonal rise during December."
But experts warn these figures are only the tip of the iceberg, with hundreds of attacks going unreported and many victims suffering in silence for years.
Domestic abuse accounts for nearly a quarter of all violent crime and affects men and women of all ages and backgrounds.
In fact victims are as likely to be aged 80 as 18.
However, help is just a phone call away for women who are left with nowhere else to turn.
"Every situation is different," added DS McKinlay. "We can put victims in touch with agencies who can help them with injunctions, benefits, housing and refuges, but the women have to be ready to leave."
Claire Holmes, deputy manager of Tameside Women's Project refuge, said: "We are the only temporary residential refuge for women and children in the borough.
"Statistics show two women and two children are killed each week by a violent partner. That means four will die over Christmas. It is a horrific crime."
Most recent 2 of 4 user comments
The image of the male perpetrator and the female victim is a sexist stereotype and it is time it was binned. The statistic quoted is false: an average of 89 children are murdered each year, 43% by their primary carer, 53% of whom are male. This does not equate to 2 a week.
Stop spreading this damaging prejudice.
23/12/2006 at 23:12
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30/12/2006 at 12:19