Family of mother murdered by boyfriend after inquiring about his violent past calls for 'Clare's Law' review
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Damon Green
The family of a woman who was brutally murdered by her boyfriend, 11 days after she asked police if he had a history of violence, are calling for a change in the law.
Rosie Darbyshire used Clare's Law to seek information from police about whether her new boyfriend, Benjamin Topping, had a violent past, after her family urged her too when they felt that something was wrong in her relationship.
Under Clare's Law, Lancashire Police had 35 days to respond to Ms Darbyshire's request.
Eleven days after submitting her enquiry, the 27-year-old mother-of-one was dead, beaten to death by Topping.
In May, Topping pleaded guilty to Ms Darbyshire's murder and was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years behind bars.
Clare’s Law was introduced in 2014, after Clare Wood was strangled and set on fire by her ex-boyfriend George Appleton in 2009, who had a secret violent past.
The law allows police to disclose information about a partner's previous history of domestic violence or violent acts.
Since the introduction of Clare's Law, 90 applications made a week, with 44% resulting in a disclosure.
Now, Ms Darbyshire's family have joined force's with Clare Wood's father, Michael Brown, to call on MPs to cut the time frame from 35 days to just 48 hours.
Ms Darbyshire's family are convinced that if she had known about Mr Topping's violent past earlier, she would still be alive.
"He had previous offences of violence, including other males," said Rosie's sister Alice Hodgson.
"A lot was drink-fuelled, a lot of drug-fuelled, but there were a lot of violent offences."
When Mr Topping and Ms Darbyshire started dating, her friends and family started hearing rumours of his violent past.
“Just from looking at him, I just didn’t like him the moment I met him,” said Ms Darbyshire's mother Andrea.
Their concerns prompted Ms Darbyshire to contact police, but she never found out the results.
Michael Brown, Clare’s father, is backing the Darbyshire’s campaign to reduce the wait time.
“They should have been able to say, ‘I should be able to get back to you in 48 hours with an answer’,” he said.
The Home Office has said they are working with police to improve the scheme.