''Clare's Law gave me the strength to leave": Salford mum's experience of life saving law
Rebecca Anderson has waived her right to anonymity to speak out - after her former partner was jailed for sexual assault
A Salford woman has told us exclusively about how Clare's Law helped her to finally leave an abusive ex-boyfriend, who is now starting a seven and a half year prison sentence.
Rebecca Anderson found the strength to take her former partner to court after being told about his history by Greater Manchester Police.
She's waived her right to anonymity as a victim of sexual assault to speak to us - in the hope it will give others the strength to leave an abusive situation.
Listen to the exclusive interview in full here:
"It's hard to know you've been with someone like that"
Rebecca met her ex 10 years ago, but got back in touch with him early last year through social media.
"He seemed like a really nice man in the beginning"
"About four weeks in we had a big argument over his brother in law... because he said I was speaking to him too much... too over friendly with him
"There was a few scenarios like that... even going out shopping... if I looked at another male for too long, it would be two or three hours of questioning.
"You end up going from a vibrant person... within three months you're walking around with your eyes at the floor... overthinking every encounter you have."
Rebecca says she was subjected to constant harassment from her ex, who would abuse her in posts on social media and turn up at her house unannounced.
They ultimately split up after a few months and - unbeknownst to Rebecca at the time - a Clare's Law request was submitted by her mum.
The couple got back together for a few weeks but the abuse continued, with Rebecca being sexually assaulted by her ex after a night out for her 30th birthday.
Rebecca was later called to a police station to hear the outcome of her mum's Clare's Law request.
"I broke down in the room."
"It's hard to know you've been with someone like that, for all that time, and you've been in an intimate relationship with them.
"I said you can stop reading now... I know all I need to know."
Rebecca says it gave her the courage to report her own sexual assault and move forward with prosecution.
After a few weeks of gathering evidence, Greater Manchester Police arrested her former boyfriend. He has since been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after being convicted of sexual assault.
"You're only as good as the information you've got"
Rebecca decided to speak to us about her Clare's Law story not only because she thinks it helped her escape an abusive situation, but because she feels the process could be improved.
"Clare's Law is amazing... it's empowering... it gives you control over your own life, not only your own life, your children (too), because I've got a son."
Guidelines state a Clare's Law request should be processed and disclosed within 28 days but it took up to six weeks for Greater Manchester Police to respond to Rebecca's - in that time - she briefly got back with her ex.
She was then subjected to a sexual assault.
"You're only as good as the information you've got... so if that process takes a long time to get back to you... and we know that victims go back a lot of times in domestic violence relationships... you're leaving (people) vulnerable."
"The systems are all in place to deliver (information) to vulnerable women... it's just about making sure it happens a bit quicker.
"Especially if men are flagging up with multiple dangerous allegations and charges."
Rebecca is now planning to meet with representatives of Greater Manchester Police and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to push for improvements.
What is Clare's Law?
Clare's Law, otherwise known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, was officially introduced 10 years ago.
The scheme was set up in memory of 36-year-old Clare Wood, who was brutally murdered by ex-boyfriend George Appleton in Salford in 2009.
It later emerged George had an extensive criminal past - something Clare didn't know about.
After her death Clare's dad Michael Brown, Salford MP Hazel Blears and Bauer Media journalist Michelle Livesey led a campaign calling for a change in the law.
It culminated in a trial of the Disclosure Scheme, before it was rolled out by all police forces in England in March 2014.
Our exclusive podcast series charts the full story of the introduction of Clare's Law. You can listen here.
What have Greater Manchester Police said?
In response to Rebecca's story, a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said:
"Once we receive a request for a disclosure under Clare’s Law, we undertake a review process to thoroughly assess all appropriate information."
"This includes checks on our local system as well as wider reaching police resources.
"We aim to meet the disclosures within 28 days and where this isn’t met, we look at what we can do to improve, as our dedicated teams’ priority is to provide the best possible service.
"We remain committed to protecting those at risk of domestic abuse, putting significant resources into securing more arrests, providing domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs), and working with partners to aid the most vulnerable in our communities over the last year.
"Between September 2022 and August 2023, we arrested over 20,000 people for domestic abuse offences, an increase of 66% on the previous year; solved 32% more crimes; and charged and remanded 47% more perpetrators.
"Now, domestic abuse arrests account for almost one third of all our arrests force wide.
"We always encourage people to come forward and we will do our best to assist wherever we can."