NLJ this week: End ‘consensual’ defence

The shocking, lurid reporting of British backpacker Grace Millane’s murder trial serves as a reminder that the ‘rough sex’ defence continues to be used to trivialise violence against women and deny victims justice.

The death of Natalie Connolly at the hands of her partner John Broadhurst, whose charge was reduced to manslaughter, is another shocking example.

Writing in NLJ this week, Claire Christopholus, senior associate, Hill Dickinson hopes the government will, as promised, use the Domestic Abuse Bill to end the use of this defence. She also calls for responsible court reporting ‘so as not to reinforce archaic views’.