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Fighting back: North West is country’s top region for prosecuting domestic abuse offenders

Domestic abuse offenders are more likely to be successfully prosecuted in the North West than anywhere else in the country, claims to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Justice is being served to violent offenders in the home as over 80% of people prosecuted for the crime were convicted.

The current total of convictions since the start of 2013 stands at 8,507, this is higher than any other comparable metropolitan region in England and Wales.

Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West Area, said: “I hope this gives domestic violence victims confidence in coming forward and reporting incidents to the police.

“The message is also clear to perpetrators – domestic violence is totally unacceptable and you can expect to pay the price.

“Domestic violence leads to broken families and broken communities and remains a top priority for us in the North West. We will continue to build on these achievements to improve the service we provide to victims.”

These latest figures show that this is the third successive year-on-year increase in the conviction rate.

In total, 10,600 defendants for domestic violence were prosecuted in the Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria area, an increase of almost 200 prosecutions on the previous year.

Eight out of ten of these defendants were convicted.

The next region behind the North West is London which saw 9,875 prosecutions and just 6,442 convictions last year.

Mr Azfal said: “I am proud of our achievements in the North West in tackling domestic violence and bringing those who perpetrate violence in their homes and families to justice.

“It is thanks to the determination of our prosecutors and caseworkers to see justice done for victims, the courage of victims in coming forward and the work of partners in the criminal justice system and support services.”

Image courtesy of HomeSweetHomeRefuge via YouTube with thanks

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