Need for domestic abuse offence is ‘national emergency', says MP in Commons call

Independent

17-03-2025

An MP who recalled his childhood experiences seeing 'broken glass or a kicked-in Hoover' has described the need for a domestic abuse offence as a 'national emergency'.
Josh Babarinde said offences like grievous bodily harm (GBH) and assault could be labelled 'domestic abuse aggravated' to distinguish them from other forms of violence.
The Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne suggested that without a specific offence, initiatives such as Clare's Law are weakened if abusers can 'explain away' their crimes.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones warned that Mr Babarinde's proposal would risk creating a narrow definition of domestic abuse, particularly in cases where survivors do not experience physical violence.
Mr Babarinde told the Commons: 'I know what it is to be crying upstairs under the covers as a child, listening to shouting, screaming, smashing and the rest coming from downstairs and not knowing if mum was OK.
'I know what it is to go downstairs the morning after and see broken glass or a kicked-in Hoover and the rest, and to not know whether mum was OK.
'I know what it is to live in a household where you're worried that any word that you say, any movement that you do, any thought that you might have, can be attacked by an abuser in your own home who's meant to keep you safe and who you are meant to trust.'
Mr Babarinde said creating the specific offence of domestic abuse would be 'patching up what is a legal loophole', with the justice system treating crimes between couples and family members as specific offences such as GBH or assault.
He proposed a 'series of domestic abuse aggravated offences in the law, so in the same way that we have racially and religiously aggravated ABH, GBH, assault etcetera, we would have a domestic abuse aggravated equivalent'.
The MP referred to a written question he tabled in January when he asked the Ministry of Justice how many domestic abusers were serving prison sentences in England and Wales.
The department found it was 'not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate' because their crimes 'are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation'.
Mr Babarinde told MPs that the lack of data was a 'national scandal', adding: 'The Government has a really powerful ambition that I fully support to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, but how can we possibly know if we're achieving that if we don't know how many domestic abusers are in prison at any given time?'
Turning to Clare's Law (the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme), which allows people to request information about their current or ex-partner's past charges or convictions if they are worried about a history of abuse, Mr Babarinde said: 'It would be very easy for an abusive partner to explain away a conviction or a charge for assault or battery as a brawl between them and a stranger in a pub, say.
'But can you explain away domestic abuse aggravated assault in the same way? No.'
Ms Davies-Jones said in response: 'I am not convinced that his particular solution to create that series of domestic abuse aggravated offences is the right one. But I am concerned about the unintended consequences of trying to capture and define, via a list of specific offences, the full spectrum of offences in which domestic abuse could be a factor. As we've heard this evening, it is very vast.
'I am extremely wary that attempting to do so could unwittingly create a system in which some offences are deemed serious enough to constitute offences which could be aggravated by domestic abuse, whereas other offences in which domestic abuse could play a part, are not.
'We should not, for example, return to the outdated view that domestic abuse only involves physical violence.'
The minister later added: 'This Government is dedicated to ensuring that the harm caused by offences typically committed against women and girls, including domestic abuse, is appropriately and proportionately reflected in the sentencing framework.'