Camden
New Journal, 6 October 2005
Letters to the Editor These Attacks Could Have Been
Stopped The inquiry into 'Camden
Ripper' Anthony Hardy, held in private, which exonerated the
psychiatrists, did not go far enough into Hardy's previous violence or the
authorities' responsibility for not prosecuting him earlier. Yet he was
known to hate women, particularly prostitute women, had a history of
extreme violence and hospital staff had expressed "concerns that he
was a danger to the public". Jackie Valad, the mother of
one of his victims, called for a public inquiry into why Hardy was never
prosecuted for the murder of Sally White - who was found dead in his flat
- three reported rapes and attempted murder of his wife. This crucial
issue Women,
and often children, are raped or murdered by men like Hardy because
earlier crimes, especially within the home, were not prosecuted. Despite lip
service, such psychopathic violence is still not treated as criminal.
Ian Huntley was reported for rape and sexual assault nine times, including
by his partners, before he killed two little girls in Soham. Robert Howard now serving a
life sentence for killing a girl, had a 40-year history of violence. In
1969 he attempted to rape and strangle a girl -- he was convicted for
aggravated burglary. In 1993 he abducted, drugged and raped a 17-year old
girl for two days -- he was convicted only of unlawful sex. Women and
girls come to us when prosecutions are dropped by police or CPS. The story is always the same:
key evidence was inaccurately recorded, misinterpreted, destroyed or
deemed "insufficient". As a result less than six per
cent of reported rapes and five per cent of recorded domestic violence end
in conviction and two women every week are murdered by their partner or ex-partner.
Many "women and girls would be alive today if their attackers had
been prosecuted and appropriately sentenced the first time they struck. LISA
LONGSTAFF Women Against Rape
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