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| The death of Maria Stubbings | The death of Maria Stubbings |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| Maria Stubbings called for help many times, long before she was strangled with a dog lead by her ex-boyfriend and left under a pile of coats in the downstairs toilet. Her killer, Marc Chivers, had already been arrested for assaulting her and breaking into her home when he opened the door to the police and told them all was well. They believed him and left a card for the mother-of-two, asking her to give them a call. | Maria Stubbings called for help many times, long before she was strangled with a dog lead by her ex-boyfriend and left under a pile of coats in the downstairs toilet. Her killer, Marc Chivers, had already been arrested for assaulting her and breaking into her home when he opened the door to the police and told them all was well. They believed him and left a card for the mother-of-two, asking her to give them a call. |
| There were many errors of judgment leading up to this 2008 murder but the failure to recognise the dangers inherent in a man with a known history of violence against women (Chivers had already served a 15-year sentence for murder) is pretty breathtaking. As is the fact that this vicious murder is not even an isolated case. | There were many errors of judgment leading up to this 2008 murder but the failure to recognise the dangers inherent in a man with a known history of violence against women (Chivers had already served a 15-year sentence for murder) is pretty breathtaking. As is the fact that this vicious murder is not even an isolated case. |
| Two women are killed as a result of domestic violence every week in the UK on average, a figure that has not changed for 15 years. In some areas one in five 999 calls to the police each week are for domestic violence while up to a third of domestic incidents recorded are “repeat” incidents – that is the same victims calling again and again for help. | Two women are killed as a result of domestic violence every week in the UK on average, a figure that has not changed for 15 years. In some areas one in five 999 calls to the police each week are for domestic violence while up to a third of domestic incidents recorded are “repeat” incidents – that is the same victims calling again and again for help. |
| After each horrific murder the local police force typically says that lessons have been learnt and changes have been made. And then more women and children are killed. In Essex women and children including Christine Chambers and her daughter and Jeanette Goodwin died after Maria Stubbings despite repeated calls for help. | After each horrific murder the local police force typically says that lessons have been learnt and changes have been made. And then more women and children are killed. In Essex women and children including Christine Chambers and her daughter and Jeanette Goodwin died after Maria Stubbings despite repeated calls for help. |
| Is this a result of human error in a complex private environment? Or is something more insidious at stake that leaves these women ignored and powerless? Women’s campaigners including Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge, which supports victims of domestic violence, believe that only a full public inquiry will tell. | |
| Observers may scoff and suggest that public inquiries are all too frequent but how else to address the consistent failure to help such women (and the vast majority of victims of domestic violence are women, although of course men and boy suffer too)? | Observers may scoff and suggest that public inquiries are all too frequent but how else to address the consistent failure to help such women (and the vast majority of victims of domestic violence are women, although of course men and boy suffer too)? |
| There may be problems at an individual level in the police force but its procedures and practices are a microcosm of society. And it is the worrying tendencies of society to blame the victim (“she was asking for it”) or to regard such matters as best left behind closed doors – “it’s just a domestic” – that need to be examined here. | There may be problems at an individual level in the police force but its procedures and practices are a microcosm of society. And it is the worrying tendencies of society to blame the victim (“she was asking for it”) or to regard such matters as best left behind closed doors – “it’s just a domestic” – that need to be examined here. |
| There are signs of change of course. Heads of domestic violence units in London who suggest a real attempt to change behaviour with junior officers given training and told of the possible consequences of ignoring a call. They are warned they could lose their jobs if the worst happens. Yet such attitudes are patchy to say the least and seem to have had no effect on the crime. | There are signs of change of course. Heads of domestic violence units in London who suggest a real attempt to change behaviour with junior officers given training and told of the possible consequences of ignoring a call. They are warned they could lose their jobs if the worst happens. Yet such attitudes are patchy to say the least and seem to have had no effect on the crime. |
| The Macpherson inquiry found that the police had failed “to provide an appropriate and professional service” with “processes, attitudes and behaviour” harmful to the minority ethnic community when it finally reported on the appalling death of Stephen Lawrence. | The Macpherson inquiry found that the police had failed “to provide an appropriate and professional service” with “processes, attitudes and behaviour” harmful to the minority ethnic community when it finally reported on the appalling death of Stephen Lawrence. |
| It took more than 40 years for this country to realise that Jimmy Savile was not one isolated pervert but the symptom of a culture that allowed such abuse and ignored the pleas for help. Let’s not wait another 40 years to examine in what ways we are allowing the perpetrators of domestic violence to do the same. | It took more than 40 years for this country to realise that Jimmy Savile was not one isolated pervert but the symptom of a culture that allowed such abuse and ignored the pleas for help. Let’s not wait another 40 years to examine in what ways we are allowing the perpetrators of domestic violence to do the same. |
| • Refuge and Maria's family have launched a petition calling for a public inquiry into domestic violence. For more details click here |