"Victims of crime must not be treated at bystanders", says founder of Gloucestershire domestic abuse charity
The Victim's Commissioner is calling for new laws to protect and support victims of crime
The founder of a domestic abuse charity in Gloucestershire says "victims must not be treated as bystanders".
Nick Gazzard, founder of the Hollie Gazzard Trust, has explained how victims must be the central focus during criminal proceedings.
It comes as the Victim's Commissioner has today said a new, specific law is required to give more rights to those affected by crime.
Dame Vera Baird QC said a change of culture'' waslong overdue'' to look after'' victims of crime, amid concern of plummeting confidence levels in obtaining justice.
A policy paper reviewing the judicial process makes 34 recommendations for the Government to enshrine in law.
Nick's daughter Hollie was murdered by her boyfriend in 2014 outside where she worked in Gloucester and says as secondary victims of the crime "we felt like bystanders".
Nick said:
"When we went to court we had to sit with the offenders family and all the press - there was no segregation at all.
"It was all centred around the offender and us as secondary victims; we were bystanders in the process coming along for the ride really.
He added:
"I think the process at the moment will put a lot of victims off going to court.
"Let alone the lack of communication, the lack of legal representation and the delays, the confidence that they will have in that whole process I think is really rock bottom at the moment.
Recommendations set out in the policy paper from the Victim's Commissioner is calling for a statutory right for sexual assault victims to be given free legal representation in some circumstances.
It also states that there should be a requirement to keep victims better updated on the progress of investigations, and for court-ordered compensation to be paid to the victim, and later recouped from the defendant, by the court rather than drip-fed'' on a weekly basis.
Last year a Victims' Commissioner survey suggested just 18% of respondents felt that victims were given enough support through the court process.
A separate piece of research by Dame Vera also suggested that just 14% of respondents agreed with the notion that survivors of rape and sexual offences can get justice by reporting an incident to the police.
Currently, all victims of crime have a set of rights set out in the Victims' Code, with a new version coming into effect in April.
Dame Vera told the PA news agency:
"The point is to bring about a long-overdue change of culture whereby the criminal justice system starts to look after victims properly.
"At the moment we have a situation where a lot of victims say the process in the courts makes them feel worse than the crime did, and they're dropping out quite quickly... due to how they've been treated.
"It is very bad if somebody is so poorly treated that they don't feel that the state is supporting them when they have been wronged in this way. It's terribly bad for them but it's also terribly bad for us as a civilised society if we don't give victims the support they need.'
"We must recognise justice cannot be delivered without victims and our justice system needs to reflect this".