Shock as one in 10 women in West Mercia suffer abuse

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 10.9 per cent of adult women aged between 16 and 59 have said they were a victim of domestic abuse sometime between April 2013 and March 2016.

The statistics are taken from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and do not reflect the number of incidents reported to the police.

It is a figure that ranks the West Mercia population as the second highest in England and Wales, with only North Wales reporting a higher figure of 11.1 per cent.

The lowest figure is six per cent, recorded by the Metropolitan Police.

For men the statistics show that 4.5 per cent of adults aged between 16 and 59 say they were victims of domestic abuse in the three years up to March 2016, while the figure is 3.3 per cent for Dyfed-Powys Police.

Overall 7.8 per cent of people aged between 16 and 69 in West Mercia say they have been victims of domestic abuse over the recorded period. In Dyfed Powys the figure is 6.8 per cent.

Despite the survey indications, police figures, also released by the ONS, reveal that in West Mercia significantly fewer people, 17 in every 1,000, have told the police they have suffered domestic abuse, with nine in every 1,000 telling police in Dyfed-Powys.

Both figures put the areas below the average for England and Wales which stands at 18 per cent.

West Mercia and Dyfed-Powys also fare well in the official statistics for the number of charges resulting in a prosecution, with both above the average at 77.4 per cent and 74.7 per cent respectively.

Andy Boddington, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow North, said he was shocked by the statistics but that more investigation is needed to find out the picture in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

He said: "This is shocking. We often think of our three counties, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, as rural idylls. But behind this chocolate box image, we seem to have a deep-seated problem of abuse in the home.

"We need to get the bottom of this.

"We need more detailed data for each of the counties and for Telford and Wrekin. And we need to think about how we can do more to tackle this abuse.

"I am concerned that this data only covers people aged 16 to 59 years of age. That means that abuse of people with dementia and other diseases associated with old age is not getting the attention it deserves.

"This needs to be corrected urgently."