A domestic abuse survivor has said she hopes new plans to restrict perpetrators on where they can go are not "just pillow talk" after feeling let down by previous governments. Ministers will seek to introduce "restriction zones" that will limit where abusers can go, aiming to allow survivors to go about their daily lives without fear of seeing their offender.
Sexual and violent offenders could be restricted to certain locations and tracked with technology, and would face jail time for breaching the conditions under new proposals. Until now exclusion zones exist to stop perpetrators from going to where their victims live.
Survivor welcomes long-awaited change
Mother-of-two and survivor Leanne said she was "ecstatic" about the move, adding: "I hope change is actually going to happen, and it's not just pillow talk, but if it happens, then, yeah, it's a long time coming." She said from her experience she would have asked for restriction zones at the school where she would take her children, her local supermarket or near her family's homes.
"These are places where I was confronted, even when he had restraining orders," the 54-year-old told the PA news agency. "If I could say those places, and I knew I could go to those places safely, happy days, I'm protected. I've been listened to."
Government faces scepticism over promises
But she called for ministers to listen to survivors more, adding of the Government approach: "So far, I'm loving what I'm hearing. Would I put a lot of faith in it? Probably not, because I don't like being let down, and I've been let down by previous governments."
The measure comes as the Government plans to overhaul the prison system to curb overcrowding, which could see violent and sexual offenders released from jail earlier, and for more criminals to serve sentences in the community. Tens of thousands of offenders would be tagged, prompting concerns from the victims' commissioner for England and Wales over the Probation Service's ability to cope with rising numbers.
£700 million funding announced for reforms
The Government has announced £700 million of funding until 2028/29 for the Probation Service to back up its reforms, as well as recruiting 1,300 new probation officers by March 2026. For the new restriction zones, probation officers will work with survivors to decide on banned locations for perpetrators, and will carry out detailed risk assessments.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones announced the new measure at charity Advance in London on Friday. The victims minister said perpetrators will be GPS monitored to have real-time data about where they are going, and will be subject to "virtual boundaries" which if breached could mean they go to prison.
Legislation planned for autumn
She said: "We're putting really strong safeguards attached to these so that we can give victims and survivors the confidence to carry on with their everyday lives. We're going to be outlining more details on this as well as we're bringing in the legislation in the autumn."
Speaking at one of Advance's women's centres, director Amy Glover told PA the domestic abuse charity wants to see what the monitoring processes are, and how quickly a probation officer would intervene if a perpetrator was breaching conditions or doing something unsafe. "What we can sometimes find when new safety measures are introduced for victim survivors, if they don't work all the time, then they can actually create a false sense of security," she said.
Charity welcomes responsibility shift
But of the measure, she added the reaction is "largely positive" as it flips the current responsibility on survivors on deciding to leave their safe, small exclusion zone area, to perpetrators having more restrictions. "The aim of these restriction zones, which we really welcome, is to flip that so now he may have a smaller area of movement. She is able to go about her daily life more."
The charity hosted the justice minister for a round table discussion about the issue, joined by survivors and reality star and campaigner Georgia Harrison. The Love Island star, who campaigns on violence against women and girls after becoming a victim of revenge porn, backed the plan for restriction zones for offenders if implemented correctly.
Reality star backs new approach
"Why on earth should a survivor have to pick an area and stay there for the rest of their life?" she said. "It makes so much more sense that a perpetrator will be subjected to a restriction zone and a survivor can go wherever they want and feel safe."
The Refuge ambassador said that knowing your perpetrator is tagged and they are being monitored is the "best way possible" if prisons are overcrowded to figure out what works outside of jails. "This does seem like a really good answer to one of those issues," she said.
Minister commits to victim-centred approach
Ms Harrison also pressed the case for social media platforms to be helping and held accountable for needing to do more to prevent abuse online, which also affects victims of domestic abuse. Ms Davies-Jones said: "As the victims minister, I get to meet with victims and survivors every single day who have been through the unimaginable, and I want to hear their experiences directly and learn from them so that we can make the system better for them, and finally put them back at the heart of the justice system."
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
