CWJ welcomes long overdue U-turn to law on bail which had left women in danger

CWJ welcomes the introduction of the changes to pre-charge bail in the Protection of the Police and Public, Courts and Sentencing Bill, announced today. These new bail laws were triggered in part by our police super-complaint, lodged in March 2019.

The new Bill reverses many of the provisions of the pre-charge bail regime introduced in April 2017, which was implemented by the Government without ensuring input from any women’s sector or victims’ organisations. Within three months, by June 2017, it was apparent that the use of bail in domestic abuse cases had plummeted and victims and survivors were being left unprotected. In August 2019 Kay Martin was killed by her husband after he was released without bail conditions and given the keys to their house. Almost four years have passed since the 2017 Act, and we urge the Government to bring in the new provisions swiftly.

The National Police Chief’s Council put out guidance in May 2019 on bail but a police Inspectorate report published in December 2020 revealed that few officers are aware of it and few forces comply with it (page 23). CWJ’s evidence shows that currently victims and survivors are generally not consulted at all on bail, and sometimes not even told when bail conditions have been removed.

Nogah Ofer, solicitor at Centre for Women’s Justice said:

“’This Bill is long overdue, and all police forces must ensure that they provide the protections that victims and survivors of domestic abuse need. It is simply not good enough for officers to tell women to obtain their own civil protection orders, that is the job of the police”.

“We urge police forces to ensure that officers actually apply the new law and use bail conditions to protect vulnerable people. Victims and survivors should be consulted before any decision on use of bail conditions, and before bail conditions are lifted, so that officers assess risks properly.”