PSNI chief: Investigators face triple workload amid violence against women

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

The PSNI will do “everything” in its power to address the “profound societal issue” of violence against women and girls, the force’s Chief Constable has said.

On Thursday, Jon Boutcher said officers in the major investigation team are handling more than three times the cases recommended, while those dealing with “offender management” including restraining orders are responsible for double the cases they would ideally be.

The head of the PSNI was addressing the policing board, in the context that two women have been killed in Northern Ireland since their last public meeting in early March.

Last week a man appeared in court charged with the murder of Amy Doherty in Derry, while another man appeared in court charged with the murder of Ellie Flanagan in Fermanagh last month.

Violence against women and girls has also been under renewed focus as a result of the conviction of Stephen McCullagh for the murder of his pregnant partner Natalie McNally.

Mr Boutcher paid tribute to the McNally, Doherty, and Flanagan families, as well as the family of Chloe Mitchell, a 21-year-old who was killed in Ballymena in 2023.

“Amy’s murder brings to 30 the number of women who’ve been murdered by men here in the past five years,” he said.

“For a country the size of Northern Ireland, that is shocking, and I want to reiterate the determination of everyone in the PSNI to do everything in our power to address this profound societal issue.”

He added: “I have repeatedly, since arriving here, expressed concerns about our capacity to properly address violence against women and girls.

“I have also expressed concerns as regards to our approach and internal mechanisms for dealing with both violence against women and girls and misogyny.

“When arriving I was disturbed by the numbers of domestic homicides in Northern Ireland and when reaching into the behaviour of society in general towards women and girls and into a small number of cases of inappropriate behaviour within the PSNI, I became aware of the worrying levels of wider misogyny.”

Boutcher has repeatedly lamented the financial difficulties being faced by the force, and said the PSNI will  “sweat our asset of resource”, but funding restraints limited their capacity in coping with serious crimes.

“The College of Policing recommends that each major investigation team that deals with murders against these young women should have six cases per team; we have 20,” he said.

“So, I worry about that pressure.”

He added: “Orders that women obtain to manage the predatory and unacceptable behaviours of previous partners need to be enforced.

“Our offender management situation, and we’ve alluded to this in front of this board before, we should have one officer having 50 cases – that includes violent and sexual offenders – we’ve got one to over 100.”

The actual conduct of the men who committed these murders goes way, way back before the police are involved ... this is a societal issue

Sinn Féin MLA and policing board member Linda Dillon referred to the number of women killed, saying “we cannot any longer tolerate it being something that’s on the agenda but is not being prioritised”, as she asked about training for officers in this area.

“I think the policing focus needs to be on ensuring that orders, harassment orders, stalking orders, are very much properly prioritised with regards to perpetrator activity,” Boutcher replied.

“The actual conduct of the men who committed these murders goes way, way back before the police are involved, it does, that’s the reality of this, this is a societal issue.”

The Chief Constable further said student officers have “incredible and complex training” that includes “lessons on understanding domestic abuse, the definitions, the legislation, barriers from victims to leaving relationships”.

He added: “It deals with non-fatal strangulation, stalking, including harassment.

“They get instruction on trauma-informed approaches and the cycle of abuse that we see all too often, and of course, often previously unrecognised, the need to understand the impacts on children and safeguarding children, and includes inputs from advocacy groups such as Women’s Aid.”

An independent review on sexism in the force was conducted by Rachel Langdale KC, as a report earlier this month found predatory behaviour features in 30% of the most serious cases investigated by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.

Last year a former PSNI officer was arrested by police ombudsman investigators on suspicion of committing more than 10 non-recent offences, including rape, other sexual offences between 2000 and 2009 while he was a serving officer.

The Chief Constable accepted the findings and recommendations of the Langdale review in full and pledged that “clear and measurable action” will be taken.

“I commissioned this report to ensure we strengthen how we deal with domestic violence, violence against women and girls and misogyny,” he said.

“I wanted an independent look at our culture, our systems and processes, and for the report to identify meaningful and sustainable mechanisms for improvement.

“Rachel makes clear that she encountered evidence of misogyny in this police service.

“Let me repeat here the message I have repeatedly shared and again shared with the entire organisation in a video last week – there is no place in this organisation for any misogyny, sexism or hateful behaviour in any form towards any colleagues from anyone.

“It is unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated.”