- Sir Tom Winsor warns police unable to spot signs of honour-related crime
- Says women are returned to families who might be responsible for abuse
- Figures show there were 11,000 cases of honour crime between 2010-14
- 'Murder is murder', says Sir Tom as he says those responsible for honour crime will be 'vigorously pursued'
Sir Tom Winsor (pictured) has warned that police are sending at risk women and children from ethnic minority backgrounds back to their abusers because officers don't understand honour crime
Police are sending at risk women and children from ethnic minority backgrounds back to their abusers because officers don't understand honour crime, the head of the police watchdog has said.
Sir Tom Winsor, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said women had been killed by family members because police had been unable to spot signs of honour-related violence, or fully understand the cultural issues surrounding it.
He also claimed that in some cases victims were being returned to their families or communities, who might have been responsible for the abuse, or who pose the greatest risk to them.
'In too many respects they [the police] just don't understand that they are returning the victim to the people who present the greatest threat to her — and it is almost always "her",' he told The Times.
'It may be her parents or her own extended family.'
Last year, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) conducted its first review into the way police deal with honour-based violence, including female genital mutilation and forced marriage, and found that just three out of 43 forces were properly prepared to deal with cases.
The report, published in December, found almost half of forces were not ready when it comes to being able to protect victims, and that officers trained to spot victims were spread thinly across England and Wales.
It went on to warn that although some forces had developed tactics for combating honour crimes and there were 'pockets of good practice', in many cases forces did not have a 'sound and complete understanding of the nature or magnitude of these crimes, nor how best to respond to them.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3515277/Police-sending-ethnic-minority-women-children-abusers-officers-don-t-understand-honour-violence.html#ixzz454At74uy
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