Woman nearly killed by ex-partner hits out at ‘ridiculous’ change to ‘lenient’ prison sentences for abusers

‘First and foremost, the sentences should not be so low. The scheme is wasting court time and taxpayer money. It puts the burden on the victim yet again to appeal,’ says Zoe Dronfield

New measures will overhaul the existing Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme which is already in force for crimes such as murder, rape and terrorism (Zoe Dronfield)

A woman who almost died when her former partner attacked her with a meat cleaver has condemned the government’s new scheme which allows victims of domestic abuse to challenge sentences given to their perpetrators.

New measures which come into force on Tuesday will overhaul the existing Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme which is already in force for crimes such as murder, rape and terrorism.

The government has added 14 new offences to the scheme – with domestic abuse; stalking; coercive and controlling behaviour; child sexual abuse; harassment and taking, disseminating and publishing indecent images of children, among the new offences now included.

Zoe Dronfield, a mother-of-two from Coventry, who argues her former partner was given too lenient a sentence for his crimes, criticised the changes.

Ms Dronfield, 42, who spent weeks in hospital recovering from bleeding to the brain, a stab wound to her neck and a broken right arm inflicted during an eight-hour ordeal at the hands of Jason Smith in 2014, argued perpetrators should be given proper sentences in the first instance.

She said: “First and foremost, the sentences should not be so low. The scheme is wasting court time and taxpayer money. It puts the burden on the victim yet again to appeal. God knows how long that process is. Also, is it not potentially putting the victim in danger by making them appeal.

“The government is not dealing with the root problem. It seems ridiculous to go through the process twice – why don’t we do it right in the first place? Why are [they] re-traumatising and re-victimising survivors?”

Ms Dronfield, who is now a domestic violence campaigner, raised concerns her ex had been recently moved to an open prison and said she has been left fearing for her life.

Smith was jailed for 10 years, with a further four on licence, in March 2015. However, little more than four years into his current sentence for grievous bodily harm with intent, he has been transferred to an open prison.

“I am in utter shock and horrified,” she said. “I always make sure the doors are locked and think is he going to turn up. It is outrageous that he is in open prison. Who has done the risk assessment? There are lots of questions I want answered by the authorities.”

Campaigners and Ms Dronfield herself previously told The Independent they had major concerns over Smith’s relocation to a jail designed for prisoners deemed to be a low risk to the public, given he has never expressed remorse for the attack.

Laura Richards, violence adviser to the National Police Chiefs Council, who is founder of anti-stalking charity Paladin, said: “He was convicted of witness intimidation. He threatened to have her house burnt down. He is manipulative and charming. I would imagine he has hoodwinked them. One of his victims was a West Midlands police officer who went out with him, who told the police he is capable of killing and this was not taken seriously.”

Zoe Dronfield with Jason Smith (Zoe Dronfield)

Ms Dronfield and Ms Richards have been at the forefront of a campaign for a national register of serial stalkers and domestic violence perpetrators.

“We are calling for a register for those who have two or more victims or have committed two or more offences,” Ms Dronfield added. “If we proactively monitored offenders, it would reduce reoffending. When this type of offender gets away with it, they want to reoffend at high rates because they are deemed to be getting away with it. Why are women’s lives worth so little? Two women a week in the UK are killed by their current or former partner and that does not take into account the women who take their own lives because of domestic abuse.”

The campaigner argued domestic abuse is rarely a “one-off offence” and perpetrators often carry on carrying out similar attacks – saying the issue escalates over time but the pattern is often not picked up by either the police or the Crown Prosecution Service.

The new government scheme gives individuals the power to ask the attorney general to take the sentence to the Court of Appeal to be re-examined and it can be lengthened if it is found to be overly lenient.