East Lancashire charity mounts pressure on the government to do more to protect survivors of stalking

A new domestic abuse bill is heading back to Parliament later today in the hopes of putting in place tougher punishments for perpetrators.

One of the proposed amendments to the bill is around creating a 'stalker's register' for serial offenders.

Paladin, which is an East Lancashire based stalking charity, have been campaigning for this for years.

They've been working alongside John and Penny Clough whose daughter Jane was stabbed to death by her ex-partner as she walked into work at Blackpool Hospital in 2010.

Jonathon Vass was already on bail for several counts of rape and assault when he murdered the nurse.

Saeeda is from Paladin and has been working with victims for 20 years, she said: "I remember the early days when I was a frontline practitioner, you'd get the same perpetrators coming again and again.

"You'd support a victim, you'd get them to a place of safety - and I'm talking about a lot of public money actually being spent through court systems here - and you knew that that perpetrator was going to come back and there's nothing in place to stop that.

"When we're supporting victims, they'll come and say well I didn't know that he'd already been charged with domestic abuse and if I'd have known that it might have made an impact it might have made a difference to me getting relationship with him."

"Quite often victims are absolutely let down because time and again, they're having to prove to the courts that what they're facing is stalking. There's a lot of victim blaming that goes on and I think this is something that actually puts the responsibility back on the perpetrator."

You can find more information on the campaign here and information on support here.