Michael Brown, who headed the campaign which led to ‘Clare’s Law’ after the murder of his daughter Clare Wood, says he supports efforts to speed up access to its main benefit – whether an applicant’s partner has a history of violence.
Under current rules, police forces have up to 35 days to respond to a request for information through the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, better known as Clare’s Law.
“Thirty-five days is ridiculous. I didn’t realise it was taking so long. It’s crazy. My daughter was killed in a morning,” Brown said.
Drawing on his experience working in the prison service, he added: “I could find out within minutes how long an inmate was in for, what they were in for and when they were due out.
Why can’t we have a similar database for people with abusive backgrounds? Then the bobby on the street could call up the control centre and find out very quickly. Everything is computerised these days.”
Brown was speaking in support of a campaign launched by the Lancashire Post to lower the maximum time police forces have to respond.
The newspaper is acting after a Preston woman was murdered by her boyfriend 11 days after she had put in an application under Clare’s Law in response to concerns others had raised about his violent past. She had not received any information about him before he killed her.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
