Following her death, friends and family were shocked to discover that her killer had a history of violence against women, including repeated harassments, threats and the kidnapping at knifepoint of one of this ex-girlfriends.
The proposed law which is being piloted in Gwent, Wiltshire, Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester is modelled on Sarah's Law, named after murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, which gives parents the legal right to know if anyone with regular access to children poses a risk.
Campaigners believe that Clare's Law is needed because of the growth of internet dating. It is now much more common for women to start relationships with men who they know little about.
In an article for the The Telegraph Newspaper a survey of 189 people currently living in refuges across England and Wales
found that 75% said they would have left their relationship had they
discovered their partner’s violent history. Almost all of those surveyed – 94% – said they would like to have been told
by the police if their partner had a violent past.
I fully support this and hope it gets the full backing it needs but of course it does rely on decent Police intelligence and of course doesn't mean to say that a partner could be a first time offender! From my own experience, I have recently discovered that my ex-husband had a violent past but unless you go hunting out their ex-partners (I did - and this is how I have recently learnt about his past) then there hasn't been any system to warn you what you might be letting yourself in for. What frustrates me the most is the fact that my ex was a Police Officer and when I learnt about his violent past from his ex-partner I realised that that his collegues/supervisors knew so when I met him whilst working in the Police myself, someone (I think) should have pulled me aside and informed me! Would I have listened? I can't say, but to sit and let it happen again - grrr.....frustration is an understatement!!
But when I read about what happened to Clare Wood I remind myself again what a lucky escape I had.
I fully support this and hope it gets the full backing it needs but of course it does rely on decent Police intelligence and of course doesn't mean to say that a partner could be a first time offender! From my own experience, I have recently discovered that my ex-husband had a violent past but unless you go hunting out their ex-partners (I did - and this is how I have recently learnt about his past) then there hasn't been any system to warn you what you might be letting yourself in for. What frustrates me the most is the fact that my ex was a Police Officer and when I learnt about his violent past from his ex-partner I realised that that his collegues/supervisors knew so when I met him whilst working in the Police myself, someone (I think) should have pulled me aside and informed me! Would I have listened? I can't say, but to sit and let it happen again - grrr.....frustration is an understatement!!
But when I read about what happened to Clare Wood I remind myself again what a lucky escape I had.
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