Briefing: Serial, Repeat and Dangerous Stalkers and Domestic Abusers and The Urgent Need for Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworkers (ISACs)
1. Introduction
Twenty three year old Gracie Spinks was murdered by Michael Sellers. Derbyshire Police failed to investigate his history of abuse towards other women and have admitted failings.
Grace’s parents said the police response was ‘diabolical’ and they have called for national change to protect future victims.
Unfortunately, the police failures are an all too familiar pattern. I’ve been reviewing murders of women by men with violent histories that have not been joined up for almost three decades.
The lessons are the same. There has been no real change in proactively identifying, assessing and managing serial, repeat and high risk perpetrators. How many more women and children will be brutally killed before the Government acts?
In 2022 they reneged on agreeing an automatic duty to include serial and dangerous stalkers to the Violent and Sexual Offenders Register which would mean they would be managed by the statutory Multi-Agency Public Protection Panels (MAPPPs).
2. History: Overwhelming and Compelling Evidence Base for Change
In 2001 I profiled 452 domestic violence serious and sexual perpetrators when I was a criminal behavioural analyst in the Metropolitan Police Service at New Scotland Yard. The findings were shocking and harrowing and documented in a report called ‘Getting Away With It’ https://static1.squarespace.com/static/63585aa01220164be2e387b2/t/63be07a1bef8883afc74f87a/1673398177548/Getting-Away-with-It.pdf
I published the report internally and then externally in 2004. I found there was no join up regarding domestic abusers and stalkers histories within the Metropolitan Police Service or nationally. Simply put, they were allowed to offend with impunity across multiple victims – adults and children and different geographic regions. Moreover:
· 1 in 8 were serial, high risk and dangerous perpetrators;
· 1 in 12 had previous convictions for stranger sexual assault;
· 1 in 4 were committing offences outside the home, and;
· Only 2% (6) received a custodial sentence for extremely serious assaults and rapes of their former or current female partners.
I made the recommendation that we needed to ‘make the links’ across their offending behaviour and that the perpetrators must be proactively identified, risk assessed and managed and referred to the statutory Multi-Agency Risk Public Protection Panels (MAPPP).
I created a new risk assessment tool to identify the top 10-20 most dangerous and high-risk perpetrators to be problem solved proactively using the SPECSS+ Model which evolved into the DASH Risk Identification, Assessment and Management Model (2009-2024) which is also used by multi-agencies having worked in close partnership with the charity Safe Lives:
https://www.dashriskchecklist.com/
https://safelives.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Dash%20for%20IDVAs%20FINAL_0.pdf
Using the SPECSS+ and then the DASH, the Met. Police began targeting serial and dangerous domestic violence perpetrators for the first time in 2001, with tremendous results. We reduced domestic homicide year on year by 58%. That was 33 people less dead every year, saving both lives and money.
The average cost of a murder to investigate when I was head of the Homicide Prevention Unit at New Scotland Yard was £1.54 million. It’s now more than doubled and estimated as £3.2 million (Home Office, The Economic and Social Costs of Crime, 2018).
The Met. was the first police service to do this nationally and internationally. Scotland followed suit and I trained many other police forces to do the same when working as a consultant to the Home Office and later as ACPO’s Violence Adviser.
I asked questions in the Met as to why we reviewed children who were killed under Part 8 reviews – now Serious Case Reviews – and yet if the mother was murdered in the same event, we did not review their murder?
No-one could answer why. Nor could any unit in the Met. say with any confidence how many domestic murders there had been in 2000-2001.
I was shocked. It appeared painfully obvious to me that women didn’t matter and were footnotes in their own murders.
I worked with then DCI Allan Aubeelack and created guidance to review domestic murders in the Met. We asked boroughs to review cases using their Domestic Violence Forums, we trained them how and I created the process to analyze them. Once they were concluded they were sent to me at New Scotland Yard.
I documented all the findings from the first 30 Multi-Agency Domestic Homicide Reviews (MADHRs) and presented the findings to the head of Homicide and Head of the Racial and Violent Crime task Force as well as the Community Safety Unit managers and staff.
This was a huge undertaking, and more and more professionals asked me to present the findings to them. I then had to train other forces/regions who were interested in doing MDHRs and I created a feedback loop back into the SPECSS+/DASH risk model. I also published the findings in a report called: Findings from the Multi-agency Domestic Homicide Reviews, published in 2003. Link: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/63585aa01220164be2e387b2/t/63f54e86aa9b262dff466ce9/1677020806599/Findings-from-the-Domestic-Homicide-Reviews.pdf
This was my first law change and the Domestic Homicide Reviews were included in the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act in 2004 working closely with the very impressive then Solicitor General Harriet Harman in 2001 who requested I present the findings to her.
I co-wrote the initial Multi-Agency Domestic Homicide Review (MADHR) guidance and I have also been involved in reviewing MADHRs for the Met Police and for the Home Office and I continue to review domestic homicide cases (see Page 245 Policing Domestic Violence, 2009).
Sadly, present day, many of the findings have not changed. Noticeably there is still a lack of focus on the actual perpetrators who are allowed to escalate their behaviour time and time again, while avoiding accountability or taking responsibility for their actions. Conversely there is an over reliance and focus on the victim’s behaviour. Victims are blamed for inaction or not adhering to a safety plan they have been unrealistically loaded up with by professionals.
The most over utilised phrase from the police following catastrophic failings “we will learn the lessons” but they never do – and there’s no checks and balances to ensure any form of accountability.
I saw this consistently when I ran the Homicide Prevention Unit in the Met. in 2004. It was my vision for the Met to identify and target the top 100 most violent and dangerous serial perpetrators across London and that each police force would follow suit placing offenders on the Violent and sexual offenders register (ViSOR) and managing them via MAPPA.
This in essence would expand the register to include domestic abusers and stalkers and ensure national co-ordination and join up. This was reported on by The Times in 2006:
And again, by the Evening Standard in 2012:
On December 15 2023 the Met. Police announced that this was their NEW initiative – the V100 and that they are having some positive results in 2024. That’s great – although this should have continued from 2007 onwards and equally all police services MUST do this for it to truly be effective and to ensure a national, consistent and effective approach:
https://news.met.police.uk/news/a-step-change-for-the-safety-of-women-and-girls-476872
All of my best practice including proactively problem solving DV perpetrators and referring them to MAPPA (page 156) is documented in the leading Oxford University Press Blackstone’s Policing Guide: Policing Domestic Violence, which I co-authored with two New Scotland Yard detectives who I worked with at the time, who were also police subject matter experts, DS Sharon Stratton and DCI Simon Letchford:
https://www.thelaurarichards.com/resources/books
3. Domestic Abusers and Stalkers Are Costly
The Home Office (2018) estimated domestic abusers cost society £66 billion every year. Serial domestic abusers and stalkers target victim after victim and escalate their behaviour. They don’t stop until they are stopped.
Every four days a woman is murdered by their former or current male partner; every three days a woman is murdered by a man (Femicide Census 2019 and 2020). The cost to investigate a homicide is £3.2million (Home Office 2018).
Domestic abusers and stalkers are incredibly costly for the 2 million adults and 1 in 5 children who are subjected to abuse every year (ONS Crime Survey 2015). Imagine how many lives would have been saved if the Met Police had continued doing what I started in 2001?
Since then, I have continued to lobby for serious and serial domestic abusers and stalkers violent histories to be joined up and placed on the same database/register as sex offenders - ViSOR.
4. Case Studies: How Many More Women and Children Will be Seriously Harmed and Murdered Before the Government Act?
There are sadly many cases I have include in briefings over the years. That is the only thing that changes – the increase in women and children seriously harmed or killed. Here are some of them:
· Tracey Morgan was stalked by a work colleague, Anthony Burstow, for nine years, from 1992 and she reported him to Hampshire and Thames Valley Police. He planted listening devices in her home, broke into her home and followed her. Tracey lost her confidence, her marriage and her social life. Burstow has been in prison since 2001 for the attempted murder of another woman, Lorraine, who he was stalking simultaneously. He also changed his name.
· Ryan Ingham murdered his fiancée, Caroline Finegan, a few months after a violent attack which was so bad, she needed hospital treatment. He already had 23 convictions for violence and harassment, mostly towards other partners. However, Caroline would not have been able to learn of his violent history by Clare’s Law, as he was using a false name.
· Pregnant 17-year-old Jayden Parkinson was brutally murdered. Her ex-partner Ben Blakeley was convicted of her murder. He has a history of serial abuse and was violent and controlling during all his relationships. Previous offences had been reported to Thames Valley Police and they did not join up his behaviour and protect Jayden.
· Jane Clough, a nurse, warned Lancashire Police her violent ex-partner Jonathan Vass was going to kill her when she ended the relationship with him. He had repeatedly raped and assaulted her. She was terrified of him. He had a history of abusing other women. Vass stalked her using Facebook when she escaped to her parents’ house with their baby. Although Vass's bail conditions ordered him to keep away from Jane, he was freed on bail. Vass stabbed Jane 71 times, and cut her throat to silence her forever.
· Zoe Dronfield, survivor of a near lethal attack by Jason Smith who abused 18 women before her. Zoe was victim number 18 at the hands of Jason Smith. He had been reported at least 13 times to West Midlands Police by ex-girlfriends for domestic abuse, including a police officer who told them he would kill the next woman. Zoe reported multiple times when Smith broke into her property and started stalking her after she broke up with him. She was told to pick a nicer boyfriend next time. West Midland’s Police did not check his history. There was no focus on his behaviour. The next time he saw Zoe, he locked her in her house and attacked her with a meat cleaver and knife. She managed to call 999 and was rushed to hospital. She is lucky to be alive. Zoe says:
“How is it right that I was victim 18? I did everything right and I was attacked and almost killed by Jason Smith. My children and I must live with the impact of his attack on me every single day, and with him coming out of prison, without me being notified, it just adds insult to injury. Why are his rights more important than mine and my children’s safety? And what about the next woman he targets? What about her safety? Does she not deserve to know?”
· Laura Mortimer and her 11-year-old daughter Ella Dalby were stabbed to death Gloucester on 28 May 2018 by Christopher Boon. He had prior history of assaulting a previous partner and her mother in front of two children. He received a suspended sentenced for this very serious violence against two women. He punched Laura in the face, and she attended hospital with leg, stomach and back pains. He also abused Ella who would try and protect her mum. Boon was a fantasist who was £28,000 in debt and coerced Laura into putting her income into his bank account. Laura reported to Police. She was scared to pursue a prosecution, but she did ask about his history. She was told it could not be shared and she was sent away. Days before the murders Laura learned Boon was cheating on her and told him to leave the house. Days later he stabbed Laura 18 times and her 11 year old daughter 24 times. Read this report about how Laura was blamed in the Domestic Homicide review and his offending was not joined up:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/15/review-of-mother-and-daughters-murders-could-save-lives-family-hopes
· Cheryl Gabriel Hooper was stalked and murdered by serial perpetrator Andrew Hooper in 2018. He shot her in front of her 14-year-old daughter, Georgia in their car. Georgia jumped out of the car just before he shot her mum. She is lucky to be alive – but bore witness to her mum being abused, hunted down and shot dead in front of her. Despite multiple calls by Cheryl to West Mercia and Staffordshire Police there was no focus on Hooper or attempts to stop his behaviour other than to ask him to hand over his firearms to a friend. He coercively controlled Cheryl and stalked her on separation, he threatened to kill himself, he threatened Cheryl with a gun, and placed a tracker on her car. Hooper previously stalked his ex-wife on separation, broke into her house at night armed with a knife and wearing surgical gloves he threatened to kill her and her new partner. He was arrested. The charge? He pled guilty to affray and received a suspended sentence in 2004. The context is crucial to risk identification, assessment, and management – and it is this which is always missing on PNC and any other database. Cheryl reported to the police there was no focus on Hooper or join up between Staffordshire and West Mercia police. In fact, when Cheryl reported in fear for her life, the police changed the appointment multiple times. There was no urgency or multi-agency meeting to problem solve Hooper’s behaviour.
· Gracie Spinks reported Michael Sellers to Derbyshire Police. He was stalking her. Eight other women had made complaints before Gracie. Sellers was dismissed from work due to his behaviour towards women. The warning signs were all there, however, the police did not investigate him. They did not interview Sellers nor did they request the disciplinary file from his workplace, Xbite. Instead, they gave him 'words of advice' about his behaviour. On May 6 a bag of weapons was found close to where Gracie kept her horse, Paddy. It contained knives, an axe and a hammer and a note "Don't Lie." Officers dismissed it. On June 18th 2021 Gracie went to see Paddy. Just after 8am she was found lying on the ground and a man was seen running away. She had been stabbed 10 times including a fatal wound to the neck.
· Angie White was strangled by serial domestic abuser Daniel White before he cut her throat with a stanley knife on October 22 2022. He had a long history of domestic violence against many women including Angie. Judge Paul Thomas KC said “You have a disgraceful history of assaulting women who have had the misfortune to be in a relationship with you. You were, in short, a serious danger to women even before you murdered Angie White.”
· Alexis Flavin was strangled whilst holding her baby by serial domestic abuser, Jonathan Cole. He had just left prison for attacking his ex-partner when he met Alexis. He had 14 convictions for 16 offences, at least three against previous female partners. Alexis did not know this when she met him, and she was not told when she reported him to police. It was a whirlwind relationship and he proposed quickly. He attacked her one night, dragging her out of bed. She reported him to police, and he broke his bail conditions to see her and tell her he would change. She discovered she was pregnant and dropped the charges. Cole abused and tormented her throughout her pregnancy. Just before she gave birth he kicked her out of bed and spat in her face. She thought he was going to kick her in the stomach and told him to get out. He forced her to give birth alone and saw the baby weeks later for the first time. He stopped her from breastfeeding because he was ‘jealous’. One night he was angry and smashed the baby’s nightlight. He swore at Alexis and strangled her whilst she had the baby in her arms. He stopped her from breathing and she couldn’t move her neck. She wet herself throughout the attack. She was terrified he would kill the baby. She called the South Wales Police and he was arrested and convicted for strangulation. His lawyer asked for a suspended sentence. Alexis and the baby are lucky to be alive. His history should have been joined up and Alexis told of this when she first reported him for a serious assault.
Currently abusers can act with impunity and are no more likely to go to prison or be seen as any more serious if they abuse harm or kill, one woman, three women or 18 women.
Women are not told about these dangerous and violent men’s histories even when they report serious violence and abuse. The police do not take male violence towards women seriously. This has been going on for decades and the misogyny found by Baroness Louise Casey in the Met. Police service is widespread across all police services.
Trust and confidence have gone in the police post Sarah Everard’s abduction, rape and murder by serial perpetrator and Met. Police officer Wayne Couzens. Following in the wake of this case was serial rapist and Met police officer David Carrick and many others who have been publicly identified, and Baroness Louise Casey’s Review of the Metropolitan Police service highlighting many other serial perpetrators who were allowed to offend within the Met and institutionalised sexism and misogyny. This is happening across all police forces.
If this is happening within our police services, imagine the extent of how bad it really is with serial domestic abusers and stalkers outside the police? Now is the time to REALLY prioritise holding perpetrators to account and bringing them to justice
5. Many Missed Opportunities to Act – The Time is Now
Government paid lip service to prioritizing women’s safety and focusing on male violence, pushing back repeatedly on an automatic duty on police to identify serial and dangerous domestic abusers and stalkers and place them on the same register as sex offenders and we count the costs in women and children’s lives.
They talk about perpetrators facing the consequence for their behaviour – yet things have not improved since my 2004 ‘Getting Away With It’ report. Arguably things have got worse. The Government herald their success by citing that:
“For the first time ever, a separate chapter entitled ‘Domestic Abuse and Stalking’ was introduced into the MAPPA Statutory Guidance. This will raise the profile and bring a renewed focus, helping to strengthen the effective management of these types of offenders.
To further strengthen the MAPPA framework, HMPPS have published a Policy Framework for the Probation Service regarding the management of MAPPA cases at the Level 1, including domestic abuse and stalking perpetrators.
The Framework aims to improve consistency in the quality of information sharing, the regularity of reviews, and the identification of cases where additional risk management activity is required.
The Government has also produced a thresholding document to guide practitioners in deciding on the level of management under MAPPA, so domestic abuse and stalking offenders are subject to the right level of supervision.
We said that more pieces of paper and guidance would not be effective and we were right. Urgent action is needed now. No more lip service or pieces of paper please.
To shift culture and narrative from ‘why doesn’t she leave’ to ‘why doesn’t he stop’ we must focus on perpetrators and law change is required to ensure a systematic standardised, co-ordinated and problem-solving approach nationally.
There are local pockets of good practice but manipulative and dangerous abusers move areas and travel and all police services, probation and the prison service as well other agencies including specialist domestic abuse and stalking services should work together to better protect women and girls.
Systems, process, attitude and cultural change are urgently needed along with a database to ensure the collection and collation of data about perpetrators as well as accountability and a governance framework. Information and intelligence must be shared across police services and local authority borders when perpetrators move from area to area and from victim to victim. We must track the perpetrators, not the victims. This will also enhance the accurate and up-to-date information and intelligence for Clare’s Law and ensure perpetrators do not just ‘disappear’. Put simply, this must be core business that is consistent across the UK, rather than an ‘add-on’ driven by passionate, well-meaning professionals.
The Violent and Sexual Offenders Register and the statutory Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements already exist. They should be enhanced with appropriate resources to ensure the join up of intelligence and information regarding high risk and serial domestic abusers and stalkers.
6. Clare’s Law, the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) – New Police Data Shows Failure to Protect
I lobbied for Clare’s Law after the horrific murder of Clare’s Wood in 2009 by George Appleton. Clare's Law (DVDS) allows women to find out if their partners have an abusive past. The introduction of Clare’s Law was welcomed but it still leaves the onus on potential victims to protect themselves, instead of placing positive obligations on the perpetrators. It affords no protection when someone has changed their name, something which many serial perpetrators do.
Present day, women repeatedly report they have been sent away or told by Police that they are not a vetting agency. Clare’s Law is failing because there is NO DUTY on police to proactively identify, assess and manage serial perpetrators or to record information about them and share it. Data from NPCC Oct 2021 – March 2022 reveal that at least 56% of criminal background requests made were denied. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/clares-law-domestic-abuse-police-b2454860.html
7. Case Study – Wiltshire Police
Wiltshire police has reviewed more than 3,500 applications made under the domestic violence disclosure scheme over an eight-year period and identified 25 failures. At least two women were harmed after a “catastrophic” failure in the way a police force dealt with applications under Clare’s law, which gives people the right to ask whether a partner has a violent past, it has emerged.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-67925226
The Chief Constable Catherine Roper has been brave enough to share this but this is preventable and it is a national problem.
This is no surprise to the professionals who work every day trying to protect women and children. Without a positive obligation placed on police, probation and prisons only get worse.
Registration and tracking will inform and facilitate Clare’s Law, helping to identify patterns of serial abusers and offending behaviour. This would shift the emphasis away from victims and on to the perpetrators.
The Police proactively identify and manage serial and prolific robbers, burglars, sex offenders, terrorists, and every other type of repeat offender except for domestic abusers and stalkers who have shown time and time again they are most likely to kill women and children. It is time for that to change.
8. The Solution: The Amendments to Prevent & Protect, Saving Lives & Saving Money
The same tactics must be applied to serial and dangerous domestic violence perpetrators and stalkers as organised criminals and sex offenders. We must make this cultural shift to cut off opportunities for them to cause harm and ensure they face the consequences of their actions.
Currently the law relies on victims to report individual crimes, and the police do not ‘flag and tag’ serial and high-risk perpetrators. Instead, they focus on the victims. This does not happen with ANY OTHER CRIME. The automatic inclusion of serial stalkers and domestic abusers would create a cultural shift in the way these offences are dealt with, by putting the focus on the domestic abuser and stalkers’ behaviour and problem solving them like organised crime nominals.
Offenders would be placed on VISOR and similar to sex offenders be subjected to robust and proactive supervision, monitoring and management through Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). Breaching the requirements, once on the register, would become a criminal offence resulting in up to 5 years in prison.
I propose two amendments which are crucial (online link will be included when available):
1. Serial and dangerous repeat domestic abusers and stalkers are included on same register as sex offenders - ViSOR - and police must index and share information about serial abusers with victims. Each Police force must proactively identify 10-20 serial and dangerous domestic abusers and ensure their information is included on the local police intelligence database and national – ViSOR – and refer cases to MAPPA.
2. The provision for the establishment of Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworkers (ISACs) across the UK.
This will create urgently needed cultural, attitude, systems and law change which states: you MUST focus on the perpetrators who commit the most harm; you MUST put intelligence and information on the system and share it across police, probation and prisons; you MUST use an integrated approach and system and collect national data, and; you MUST take proactive action to ensure the safety of women and children and future victims.
An integrated, consistent, and collaborative multi-agency approach led by statutory agencies with specialist domestic abuse and stalking professionals at the problem-solving table will save lives and money.
In 2014 I launched a petition. As of January 22 2024 we have had 272,792 people including victims, families bereaved and professionals have signed our petition to include serial domestic abusers and stalkers on ViSOR. People want this to happen. We know it will save lives:
9. Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworkers
I set up Paladin the National Stalking Advocacy Service, having successfully spearheaded law reform working closely with the incredible Baroness Jan Royall and many others. At the time, there was no specialist service or caseworkers to help all the victims who came forward in the wake of law change and media focus that came with that.
Having been stalked myself, and worked on thousands of cases, I know that stalking and stalkers are terrifying. It is a pattern of insidious behaviour, a drip-drip-drip of psychological terrorism that leaves the victim feeling hopeless and helpless. It is a war of attrition – fighting the stalker to stay alive and remain sane as well as simultaneously battling the system to be understood and have your voice heard. Despite advances with the law, very few really understand the terror and fear, the pattern of behaviour and how dangerous stalkers really are.
My vision for Paladin was to ensure that at someone’s worst time of being stalked they received the best service for free. I created the ISACs – a specialist and independent advocate who was trained and accredited to understand the behaviours and impact on the victim as well as the law and criminal justice, family and civil justice remedies available to a victim, as well as provide trauma informed support.
At Paladin we developed a three-week course which was accredited by the University of Brighton. I trained the first five Paladin ISACs with other specialists and have trained many since. The vision was for Paladin to remain the national service and for each police area and region to have their own ISAC. ISACS are vital – they put the voice of the victim first and ensure they are not alone, and their voice is heard. It is a lifesaving service as often victims of stalking are let down and 80% of stalkers do not face a prosecution. With specialist independent stalking advocacy caseworkers we know:
· 2 in 5 victims said the caseworker helped them to report to the police;
· 1 in 3 saw their stalkers charged compared to 1 in 435 nationally;
· 1 in 4 saw their stalkers prosecuted compared to 1 in 556;
· 1 in 4 saw their stalker convicted compared with 1 in 1000 (SLT, 2023).
Paladin has the only dedicated Young People ISACs due to the increase in young people being stalked and young women, like Clare Bernal, Shana Grice, Alice Ruggles and Gracie Spinks being murdered by male stalkers.
ISACs are a lifeline for many and ensure a co-ordinated approach, like independent domestic violence advisers and independent sexual violence advisers. Every victim of stalking should be able to seek the best advice and trauma informed from an ISAC regardless of where they live. For more information:
https://www.paladinservice.co.uk/accredited-independent-stalking-advocacy-caseworker
Laura Richards, BSc, MSc, MBPsS,
Criminal Behavioural Analyst
Stalking and Coercive Control Law Reformer
Founder Paladin National Stalking Service
Former ACPO and Home Office Violence Adviser
Former Head of the Homicide Prevention Unit and Sexual Offences Section, New Scotland Yard
Author of Oxford University Press Policing Domestic Violence Book