PREVENTING violence against women and girls should be given as much priority as counter-terrorism, a police watchdog said today.

A report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services found “problems, unevenness and inconsistencies” in dealing with the epidemic of violence against female victims in England and Wales.

The study, commissioned by Home Secretary Priti Patel following the murder of Sarah Everard in March, criticised a “staggering variation” across police forces in the handling of domestic abuse.

Victims “should not be subject to a postcode lottery,” the watchdog stressed, after its research revealed huge discrepancies in how individual forces use the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme to reveal a suspect’s criminal history to those at risk. 

The report said that only about half (52 per cent) of “right to know” applications made proactively by police in the year up to March 2021 had resulted in disclosure.

And less than two in five (39 per cent) of “right to ask” applications by members of the public, such as partners of potential suspects, resulted in information being passed on. 

Shockingly, about three-quarters of domestic abuse cases reported to the police are closed early without anyone being charged, the research also showed.

Zoe Billingham from the inspectorate said: “Violence against women and girls crimes create immeasurable harm, but too often [it is] not afforded the same priority as other types of crime.

“We need to make really significant change if violence against women and girls is going to be changed.”

End Violence Against Women director Andrea Simon said that the report would add “momentum to our calls for urgent, radical reform to ensure that all victim-survivors receive an equal and appropriate policing response.”

However, Ms Simon added that the watchdog had failed to acknowledge evidence of “routine failures to take appropriate action” against police officers found to be perpetrators of domestic abuse and sexual harrassment. 

Labour shadow domestic violence minster Jess Phillips said that the killings of Ms Everard and others had “shone a light on the failure to address violence against women and girls.”

Tory ministers have neglected to prioritise the issue during more than a decade in power, the Birmingham Yardley MP charged. 

“Labour has set out proposals to address street harassment, domestic abuse and drive up conviction rates for rape, which are shamefully low.

“The government should accept these — the need for action is urgent.”