Abusers getting away with restraining order breaches

Thousands of vulnerable women face the threat of a violent domestic abuser returning to the household, with convictions for breaches of restraining orders plummeting, The Independent can reveal.

- MAYA OPPENHEIM

Analysis of Ministry of Justice data shows convictions for breaches dropped by 44 per cent between 2018 and 2023. In one case, a domestic abuse survivor told The Independent her exhusband smashed up their house 24 hours after being served with a restraining order.

Conservative and Labour MPs both raised concerns about the shocking figures and warned restraining orders “are not worth the paper they are written on”.

And the National Police Chiefs Council admitted a failure to investigate, adding: “There is more to do to improve the police response to consistently managing breach offences.”

In recent years, several women in the UK have been killed by men against whom they had obtained restraining orders. Figures show 8,744 men were convicted for breaching restraining orders in the year to June 2018, but the number had fallen to 4,904 convictions in the year to June 2023.

New data obtained under freedom of information (FOI) laws from 21 police forces shows the number of breaches of restraining orders where the perpetrator is charged has fallen by almost a third in the same period. Figures from Devon and Cornwall Police show just 14 per cent of breaches of restraining orders led to a charge in 2023.

Refuge, a leading domestic abuse charity which The Independent

has partnered with, said victims routinely say restraining orders do not work and that some survivors have stopped reporting breaches due to a lack of confidence the police will take action.

Alex Davies-Jones, shadow minister for domestic violence, said: “It cannot be right that measures taken to protect women against their violent partners are regularly being violated – and the government must urgently answer questions.”

The Independent can also reveal: