One in eight women killed by men in UK are above the age of 70, report reveals

One in eight women killed by men in the last 15 years were aged over 70, with a specialist charity reporting a growing number of older victims of domestic abuse seeking help.

- Alexandra Topping

A landmark report, released ahead of International Women's Day by the Femicide Census, delves into the deaths of 2,000 women killed by men in the UK. It shows that 262 women over the age of 70 have been killed since 2009. Among them were Margaret Biddolph, 78, and Anne Leyland, 88, who were killed by a debt-ridden taxi driver, Andrew Flood, in Southport in 2012.

They also include older women who were also subjected to extreme sexual violence. Last year the Guardian's Killed Women Count campaign reported on every woman allegedly killed by a man.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that 375,000 people aged over 60 in England and Wales reported domestic abuse between April 2022 and March 2023. But a lack of media focus and specialist services meant the abuse of older women was often hidden and unexplored, said Karen Ingala Smith, co-founder of the Femicide Census.