Women killed in domestic violence make up one fifth of murder and manslaughter victims in West Mercia

Campaigners have called for "urgent" Government action to protect women from fatal attacks, after new Home Office figures revealed the extent of domestic homicides across England and Wales.

Homicide cases include both murder and manslaughter, while domestic homicides are those in which the victim was a romantic partner or family member of the suspect.

West Mercia Police recorded 32 killings involving a victim aged 16 years or over in the three-year period between April 2014 and March 2017.

Of these, seven were domestic homicides, 10 were non-domestic, and 15 were homicides in which no suspect was identified.

Female victims accounted for six of the domestic killings.

This means women killed through domestic violence made up 19 per cent of all the murders and manslaughters recorded by the force.

Sandra Horley, chief executive of domestic violence charity Refuge, said violence against women and girls was "the biggest threat" facing women in the UK.

"Domestic violence is a matter of life and death and an overwhelmingly gendered offence," she said.

"One in four women will be affected by domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime.

"Two women are killed by their current or former partner every week."

Context

There were 400 domestic homicides in England and Wales over the same three year period, with women making up 73 per cent of the victims.

The figures mean that women during domestic abuse accounted for 19 per cent of all killings across the two countries, if the victims of the Hillsborough disaster are excluded.

For just the killings where a suspect was identified, they made up almost a quarter of victims.

Katie Ghose, chief executive of Women's Aid, said: "Time and time again, we hear of cases where a woman is killed described as an 'isolated incident'.

"By looking at the context of the killing of women by men, we can see that these cases are far from isolated incidents.

"Too many of them follow a repeated pattern.

"We call for the government to urgently put the prevention of femicide at the centre of its work and its forthcoming domestic abuse bill to combat fatal male violence against women once and for all.”

Four out of five female domestic homicide victims were killed by a current or former partner, and all but one by a male partner.