Crackdown on domestic abuse

DOMESTIC abuse thugs will face tougher sentences under new guidelines.

And for the first time, instructions for judges will make clear it does not just include physical bullying but also tormenting victims on social media.

Current guidelines state offences in a domestic context should be seen as “no less serious” than others. But the new ones, published by the Sentencing Council today, say: “The domestic context makes the offending more serious as it represents a violation of the trust and security that exists between people in an intimate or family relationship.”

Domestic abuse crimes involving serious violence or psychological damage will almost always warrant a jail sentence.