'Terrible sense of repeat' in domestic abuse cases, says Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips

Jess Phillips MP wants to place laws on perpetrators, up to a five-year prison sentence Credit: PA Media

Birmingham MP Jess Phillips has told ITV she wants to stop the "terrible sense of repeat" in domestic abuse case failures.

Her comments come as the government outlines plans to embed domestic abuse specialist teams in police forces’ 999 control rooms early next year, to stop emergency services missing opportunities to save women’s lives.

"I'd like it to have happened yesterday, not tomorrow."

Ms Phillips said she wants to do more than give domestic abuse victims “a good call”, and said the pilot scheme would act as part of an ambition to prevent domestic abuse from happening in the first place.

Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain, she said: "We are putting on the books and getting going on these orders that will have the power of arrest, long term times and perpetrators can be tagged. If you breach one of these orders there is the threat of imprisonment for up to five years."

"These are the very first steps, but this will be part of a much broader package in government across many different departments to see how not just victims are being treated by the system but also how people end up becoming perpetrators in the first place and how we stop that, and how we stop the terrible sense of repeat."

The move is part of 'Raneem’s Law' to transform the way the police handle cases of violence against women and girls.

In 2018, Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem were murdered by Raneem’s ex-partner. Four years later, an inquest found mistakes made by West Midlands Police had “materially contributed” to their deaths.

On the night they were killed, Ms Oudeh had called West Midlands Police four times to register concerns for her safety, and the force had previously responded to 10 domestic abuse incidents linked to the case.

Five officers were disciplined over the failures.

Ms Phillips said she is in talks with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to determine how many stations will be included in the pilot, which is expected to start in early 2025.

Elsewhere, the minister said police officers were pleased to see the new Labour government responding to the “national emergency”.

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