Key points from the latest report

There are several key points contained in the Domestic Abuse report, published last week.

But one thing is for sure; there is no easy answer to tackle one of society’s major problems.

The key points:

Levels of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland have remained relatively stable since 2011- 12, with around 58,000 to 61,000 incidents a year.

The police recorded 60,641 incidents of domestic abuse in 2018- 19, an increase of two per cent on the previous year.

In 2018- 19, 41 per cent of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland included the recording of at least one crime or offence.

The type of crime or offence that was most frequently recorded was common assault ( accounting for 36 per cent of all crimes and offences recorded).

This was followed by a breach of the peace, accounting for 29 per cent of crimes and offences.

Where gender information was recorded, around four out of every five incidents of domestic abuse in 2018- 19 had a female victim and a male accused.

This proportion has remained very stable since 2011- 12.

In 2018- 19, 16 per cent of domestic abuse incidents involved a male victim and a female accused ( where gender was recorded). Again, this proportion has remained stable since 2011- 12 ( ranging from 16 per cent to 18 per cent).

The 31 to 35- year- old age group had the highest incident rate for the accused ( 246 incidents recorded per 10,000 population).

Recorded incidents of domestic abuse were higher on a Saturday or Sunday than on any other day of the week. About 88 per cent of all incidents occurred in the home.

A shocking 4000 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded in Ayrshire last year.

But campaigners have this week warned that the figures could be much higher – because of scores of ‘ silent victims’ out there.

The alarming figures were contained in a new government report, released last week by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.

They tally up the data for every local authority in Scotland.

And the Post has learned that, on average, the figures equate to 12 victims of domestic abuse in Ayrshire- every single day.

The definition of domestic abuse used by Police Scotland is: ‘ Any form of physical, verbal, sexual, psychological or financial abuse which might amount to criminal conduct and which takes place within the context of a relationship.

‘ The relationship will be between partners ( married, cohabiting, civil partnership or otherwise) or expartners. The abuse can be committed in the home or elsewhere including online’.

In South Ayrshire, police recorded 1074 incidents of domestic abuse in 2018/ 19, up on the previous year’s figure of 1027.

In East Ayrshire, the figure is higher at 1468, up on the previous year’s figure of 1405.

North Ayrshire’s figures show an even more alarming 1671 incidents of domestic abuse, up from the previous year’s total of 1590.