Charity demands social media giants take action over abuse

Kent Police has received 5,207 reports of online violence towards women since last year - including 61 death threats.

The figures were revealed this week for the first time by Amnesty International following a Freedom of Information request to constabularies across Britain.

The human rights organisation is now urging Twitter to do more to protect women victims - accusing the social media giant of not doing enough when violence and abuse is reported.

Examples can include written abuse, stalking, threatening behaviour or the publishing of explicit materials relating to the victim.

Amnesty’s findings across the county list 2,992 incidents of harassment in the year 2017- 18 and 2,005 this year to date. In the same period there were 73 reports of stalking and 61 threats to kill.

One such tragic case is that of Molly McLaren who was stabbed to death by her ex-boy- friend in a shopping centre car park last year.

Joshua Stimpson from Wouldham had posted derogatory messages about the 23-year-old on social media when she ended their relationship, before attacking her at the Chatham Dockside Outlet.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International, said: “These police figures make it patently clear social media can be an incredibly toxic and dangerous place for women.

“Recently we’ve seen a great wave of solidarity and activism from women around the world, and Twitter has an important role in movements like #MeToo. But the online space must be made a safer place where women can express themselves freely without fear of violence.” The domestic abuse arrest rate has fallen in Kent, despite a surge in recorded incidents.

Kent Police recorded 43,258 cases of domestic abuse in the 12 months to the end of March, Office of National Statistics figures show - an increase of 19% from the same period in 2016-17.

Meanwhile the arrest rate, which is the number of arrests made for every 100 recorded crimes, fell from 58 to 50.

Across England and Wales, domestic abuse incidents rose by 6% while the proportion of offenders arrested fell.

A Home Office spokesman said the Government would soon publish a “landmark” Domestic Abuse Bill to transform how the crime is dealt with.