Ex-partners who murder after break-up face longer sentences under proposals

If passed by Parliament, the reforms will make murdering an ex-partner an aggravating factor when sentencing a guilty offender.

They will also make lashing out against an abuser after suffering a campaign of controlling behaviour a mitigating factor – leading to lower sentences for victims.

The changes follow recommendations made by Clare Wade KC in an independent review into domestic homicide sentencing, which was commissioned in 2021.

They come after the Government announced last March that it would make both a history of coercive or controlling behaviour and the use of excessive or gratuitous violence aggravating factors, in an interim response to Ms Wade’s review.

As well as the changes to sentencing guidelines, the Government will also ask the Law Commission to review the use of defences in domestic homicide cases, including the partial defences of “loss of control” and “diminished responsibility”, and whether the law adequately considers circumstances where a victim of domestic abuse acts in self-defence.

Announcing the additional measures on Thursday, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC said: “Cowards who murder their partners should face the full force of the law.

“Our reforms will give judges the power to punish murderers for the added pain and trauma they inflict through ‘overkill’ as well as ensuring that those who coercively control their victims or kill them at the end of a relationship face longer behind bars.”

Domestic homicide is defined as a death that occurs due to violence, abuse or neglect by a partner, ex-partner, relative or member of the same household.

Controlling or coercive behaviour was introduced as a criminal offence in the Serious Crime Act 2015 and can include economic, emotional or psychological abuse and threats alongside physical or sexual violence.

More than half (51%) of the murder cases looked at in the Wade Review involved controlling or coercive behaviour.