More domestic violence victims in Bradford are seeing their attackers brought to justice after prosecutors introduced fresh guidelines to seal convictions.

The new measures, which make it easier to secure convictions even if the victim is too frightened to give evidence in court, have seen conviction failure rates in domestic violence cases fall.

And the number of people charged with such offences has risen in the Bradford South area.

Amanda McInnes, senior prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in Bradford South, produced an 11-point advice package, which was sent to CPS lawyers and senior police officers, outlining better ways of securing the evidence to convict perpetrators of domestic violence.

The guidelines include using new powers allowing previous convictions and hearsay evidence to be put forward in court.

They also encourage police officers to include statements about the injuries they have seen on the victim, to go with photographic evidence, and take verbatim notes of what the complainant alleges.

Mrs McInnes came up with the guidelines after pushing a case through and securing a conviction when the victim decided she did not want to give evidence.

She said: "It got me thinking that if we asked the police to build a case of strength from the beginning, even when the complainant didn't want to give evidence at trial, there may be a possibility of taking it further and bringing offenders to justice, as well as giving victims more trust and belief in the system that something could be done."

The improvements in dealing with cases have been helped by the setting up by Bradford South Police of a Domestic Violence Offender Unit, where specialist officers deal with such cases every day.

Mrs McInnes said: "We gave a clear message to police that if an offence was not investigated properly, we wouldn't be able to prosecute it properly, and they have done."

Police and prosecutors can now use what a complainant tells them as hearsay evidence if they decide not to be a witness in court. But she stressed it was essential victims still came forward to give evidence.

"I don't want them to think they can report domestic violence and not have to go to court. The best evidence of all is from the victim in court, and in some cases there is no hearsay or bad character evidence."

Recently the CPS won a conviction in a case at Bradford where a man admitted in police interviews to headbutting and kicking his partner but denied it in court. The victim refused to attend court but the magistrates decided the evidence against him was too strong and convicted him.

Mrs McInnes won another case at Bingley by convincing magistrates that a man's claim of self defence when he assaulted his partner was unbelievable.

Now she would like to see specialist domestic violence courts in Bradford with a set team of magistrates and legal advisers to deal with cases.

She said: "We are doing good things at Bradford South and I would like to improve on the success we have been having. I want victims to know there are people who are going to work with them and do their best to bring offenders to justice."

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