MP Calls for Change in Law to Make Domestic Violence a Specific Offence

Officials are examining whether to change the way domestic violence crimes are recorded after a campaign by an MP who says the lack of a specific offence allows abusers to be freed early from jail.

- Peter Walker

Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrats' justice spokesperson, said a change would also help highlight the prevalence of domestic violence, which he said was still too often hidden.

Babarinde, the MP for Eastbourne, who was first elected in July, said his mother had been subjected to domestic violence by a man when he was growing up, something that teachers and friends were ignorant about.