Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme

From The Guardian:

A man whose daughter was murdered by her violent boyfriend has handed in a petition at Downing Street calling for a change in the law to protect women from domestic abuse.

Michael Brown, from Batley, West Yorkshire, travelled to London as part of a campaign to introduce "Clare's Law" named after his daughter, Clare Wood, who was killed by her boyfriend in February 2009.

The law would allow women to find out if their boyfriends or husbands had a previous history of domestic violence.

Clare Wood met her boyfriend, George Appleton, on Facebook, unaware of his long history of violence against women, including repeated harrassment, threats and kidnapping one of his former girlfriends at knifepoint.

He strangled Clare Wood and set her on fire before going on the run, before taking his own life.

At an inquest into her death, which was held last year, coroner Jennifer Leeming said women in abusive relationships has a right to know about the violent past of the men they were with. A verdict of unlawfull killing by strangulation was recorded as the cause of her death.