Two in three families bereaved by fatal domestic abuse have had their grieving process damaged by the press. These are the findings of a landmark report published today surveying 15 families bereaved by fatal domestic abuse.

 

This report, a collaboration between myself, Level Up, the feminist campaign group and AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse), a domestic homicide review charity, is pushing to help create better reporting standards.

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Fatal domestic abuse reporting has long published dangerous and re-traumatising headlines/stories that live online forever, haunting families. These stories can only be complained about to the press regulator, IPSO, by the victims' family, not by the public. 

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Having experienced irresponsible reporting first hand during the murder trial of my mother in 2011 and her appeal in 2019 I became frustrated with the amount of damaging victim blaming headlines that went unchallenged following numerous complaints. This was something I wrote about earlier this year for The Telegraph and Al Jazeera.

 

This landmark report now gives us an evidence-based survey to push for stronger regulation and greater trust with victims families who want to share their stories to help stop fatal domestic abuse.

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