A woman has been awarded £80,000 in damages in a civil case against a man who had previously been cleared of raping her. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sued Stephen Coxen, accusing him of raping her in St Andrews, Fife, after a night out in September…

Westminster has been urged to devolve powers over employment law to Scotland, so it can require bosses to give abuse victims time off if they leave their partner. SNP activists at the party’s annual conference in Glasgow passed a motion saying the UK Government should either consider introducing such a…

Nearly 1,600 people in Scotland have been informed about the abusive past of their partners in the three years since the introduction of disclosure scheme. The number of requests increased each year, with more than 3,500 requests for disclosure made since October 1 2015. This year there have been more…

Three in four cases of violence against women and girls taken on by prosecutors end in conviction, the highest rate since comparable records began, new figures for England and Wales show. The 76.1% figure for 2017/18 represents the highest conviction rate since data was compiled by the Crown Prosecution Service…

A man accused of using social media to name the woman at the centre of a rape trial involving two rugby stars stayed away from court as his case was raised before a judge for the first time. Former Ireland and Ulster players Paddy Jackson, 26, and Stuart Olding, 25,…

Serious failings in the management of domestic abusers living in the community are laid bare in a major new report. Inspectors found contact with offenders was too infrequent, leaving many to "drift" through their supervision without being challenged over their "predilection" for violence. Staff often underestimated the level of harm…

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has denied changing its approach to rape prosecutions to improve conviction rates. The Guardian newspaper reported that advice to take a proportion of "weak cases out of the system" was set out in training seminars by two senior figures in the CPS. The CPS said…

Constant "unconsiderate" sex with a partner can be worse than rape by a stranger, feminist writer Germaine Greer has suggested. While rape by a stranger is "bloody bad luck", it does not necessarily force a woman to reassess her whole life in the way that abuse by loved ones can,…

The mother of a murder victim has said she hopes a planned support service will help other families avoid her “dreadful” experience of the justice system. Lynn Burns’ only child Sam Johnston died aged 22 after being stabbed at a party in Saltcoats, Ayrshire in 2013. Stuart McCulloch was convicted…

Victims of major disasters are set to be given extra support as ministers consult on plans to create an Independent Public Advocate, the Ministry of Justice has announced. Bereaved families will be guided through an investigative process so their voices can be heard at inquests, and directed to appropriate support…

Serious failings risked allowing prisoners to make contact with victims from jail, a watchdog has warned. An inspection report on HMP High Down said public protection assessments to determine whether mail and phone call monitoring was needed were not routinely completed for new arrivals. "This meant that some prisoners who…

A five-year-old has become the 300th person affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster to visit Cornwall through a scheme set up to help survivors. Adam Chaer-Yemlahi, who lost his aunt, uncle and three of his cousins in the fire, flew to the Isles of Scilly with charity Cornwall Hugs Grenfell…