My abusive ex-boyfriend was given a verbal warning

Lauren Hardie was left with bite marks, bruising on her arms, shoulder and eye. She posted videos online of an attack she had secretly recorded on her phone. The 24-year-old nurse says she felt so let down by the justice system she turned to social media to expose him. Lauren is one of seven women whose journey through the justice system feature in the BBC Scotland Disclosure documentary.

She tells the programme she and her partner were together for six months but that there was a final flashpoint in 2020 when he attacked her. Out of sight of her partner, Lauren put her phone on record and hid it under the bed covers. Almost 12,500 people have been convicted of domestic abuse over the past five years. Almost 90% of victims do not report the abuse to the police.

Almost all of those who do report it to police are charged with a crime. The rest of the time, the victim is not charged with any crime. After giving her statement to police, it took a year and two months for a court date to be set. In the weeks before the trial she heard from a friend, who had been cited as a witness to give evidence.

Lauren: “I just felt like I was fighting so much to be heard and nobody was listening” Almost a third of all trials at sheriff courts in Scotland are for domestic abuse. There is a backlog of 27,500 cases waiting to be heard in Scottish courts. Most serious cases in the high court not due to be cleared until 2026. At its highest stood at almost 44,000 cases in January 2022.

Lauren created group chats as a safe space where people could speak openly and support one another. She said: “I think I reached a bit of a boiling point where I felt, ‘I have to do something now#39:. Carolyn Quinn suffered 27 years of severe violence and rapes. Her son Adam was also regularly attacked by his father, Kenneth Quinn.

She reported Kenneth to police in 2021. Two and a half years later, he stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Kenneth Quinn was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January 2024. She said: “I say to other people, please come forward, please don’t suffer in silence.

I was in utter hell for years. At one point I thought I was drowning. But I#38;m not. I am here and I am standing.

Summary Case Management Pilot is a collaboration between SCTS, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), the Judiciary of Scotland and Police Scotland. It is aimed at speeding up the processing of sheriff court cases by bringing about an earlier plea from the accused. In its first year, the scheme led to 250 trials being avoided. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal takes a robust approach to the investigation of domestic abuse, including a presumption in favour of prosecution.

A key priority for prosecutors is to improve our communication with victims, recognising the impact of trauma. Siobhian Brown, the Scottish government’s victims and community safety minister, said it was working with justice partners on a range of initiatives to reduce the time cases take. She said the Scottish government had also provided funding to Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid. We are doing this through our Equally Safe Strategy which focuses on early intervention, prevention and support services.

You can watch Surviving Domestic Abuse on BBC One Scotland and BBC iPlayer on Monday 11 March.

Read More