The number of battered women in the area could be four times as great as previously feared.

Police received more than 5,200 complaints from women last year, but shocking new statistics put before city councillors suggest the number of actual incidents was nearer 21,000.

They were told this cost Bradford £20 million last year in council services, health care and police and legal costs.

Anna Green, the Council's domestic violence co-ordinator, said the problem lay with a massive under-reporting of the crime.

"It isn't always reported, but when it is it isn't always recorded, but when it is it isn't always prosecuted," she told members of the Council's community safety sub-committee.

Extensive research has discovered that only a quarter of incidents are brought to the attention of the authorities, she said.

Last year Bradford police had 5,241 reported incidents of domestic violence ranging from intimidation to serious injury such as a broken leg or stabbing.

Ms Green explained that her figure was arrived at by working on the basis that this number was only a fraction of the true total.

Of the 21,000 incidents, more than 14,000 resulted in injury, more than 5,000 in serious injury and nearly 7,000 required medical attention.

Apart from the human cost, there was also a very real financial cost, she said.

Based on research in the London borough of Hackney, she estimates that domestic violence cost the district £20 million per year in police time, the criminal justice system, and counselling services.

Council services for victims, such as re-housing or social services care for women and children, cost an estimated £6 million.

The cost to the health services in dealing with domestic violence by providing treatment for injuries and so on, was £1.5 million.

"As you can see there are extensive costs beyond harm to the woman and the children who invariably witness this violence," said Ms Green.

Councillors had asked for the report to be prepared to help them consider the real picture of domestic violence in Bradford. "This is pretty sobering stuff," said sub-committee chairman, Coun John Ruding.

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