Infidelity as a tool of domestic abuse? Reflections on the sentencing of Kyle Clifford.

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Mar 144 min read

Dr Kirsty Welsh, Nottingham Law School https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/law/kirsty-welsh and Professor Loretta Trickett, Nottingham Law School https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/law/loretta-trickett

The conviction of Kyle Clifford for the rape of his former girlfriend, Louise Hunt, and his sentencing to three whole life tariffs for her murder, alongside that of her sister, Hannah, and mother, Carol, raises many issues familiar to those working on and around domestic abuse. Data from the recent femicide census again shows the extreme dangers which women face from men with whom they are in, or have been in, a relationship of some sort. One woman has been killed by a man every three days in the UK since 2009, with 61% of women killed by a current or former partner; 9% killed by their sons; 6% by other family members; 15% by other men they knew; and just 10% by someone they did not know. Overkill – the use of gratuitous and excessive violence beyond that needed to cause death – happened in 59% of femicides.

Beyond these stark statistics, we have long known that separation is a key risk factor for domestic homicide. Louise Hunt had informed Clifford just two days before he falsely imprisoned, raped and killed her that she wished to end their 18-month relationship. The use of sexual violence is also well recognised as a central part of the experience of domestic abuse. Whilst Clifford had pleaded guilty to the three murders, he denied the rape. As prosecuting counsel, Alison Morgan KC, put it, however, ‘…Louise was not going to be allowed by him to control the narrative. If he wanted Louise, he would have her, he would control her, he would rape her, and he would murder her and members of her family…’.

Of course, the revelation that, in the hours before the murders, Clifford had accessed material from the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer, Andrew Tate, has attracted significant attention in the coverage of this case. However, the detail which has received comparatively little attention is that Clifford was sexually involved with two other women during his relationship with Louise. In another recent high-profile case, a young mother, Kiana Dawes, took own life following domestic abuse at the hands partner, Ryan Wellings. Jurors at his trial for manslaughter were told that, after Kiara became pregnant with his child, Wellings assaulted her and began criticising her weight, calling her a ‘fat little bitch’ while contacting escorts and sex workers online. Again, there was little coverage of this detail in the media.

The experience of sexual infidelity is a largely undocumented aspect of domestic abuse. Yet, it is clear from research we are conducting with survivors of domestic abuse in Nottinghamshire that many abusers use it as a tool of coercion in controlling relationships. Many women involved in the research have described how their abusive partners have conducted relationships with other women during their time together. Some women mentioned the infidelity almost in passing, appearing largely resigned to it as an inevitability. Others spoke about repeated infidelity and the layer upon layer of betrayal that came with it. Many, many women described men quickly moving onto new relationships, though at the same time continuing to target them with abuse. Some spoke of former partners (who had started new relationships) sexually propositioning them during child contact visits. Undoubtedly, infidelity served as a powerful tool with which to denigrate women; feeding into demeaning narratives about their desirability and worth.

There is, of course, increasing recognition of the range of tactics that domestic abusers use systematically to dismantle women’s sense of self. These tactics are bespoke to the relationship itself and agile enough to adapt to the changing dynamics of that relationship. Recently, for example, attention has been drawn to the controlling possibilities presented by modern technologies and, in her recent work, Kirsty has documented the weaponising of intimate image sharing as a growing area of concern. The relevance of infidelity to this range of controlling tools is relatively underdeveloped in the domestic abuse literature and is something that we plan to examine further in our conversations with women. We hope to explore how common it is and how it is used in controlling relationships, using this exploration to develop both frameworks for new conversations and interventions. Clifford had other relationships but when Louise ended theirs he determined that, if he couldn’t have her, nobody else could. Whilst the double standard is clear, what is less clear is how naming infidelity as a possible risk factor provides new opportunities to address the devastation that comes with domestic abuse and its far too common lethal consequences.

Infidelity as a tool of domestic abuse? Reflections on the sentencing of Kyle Clifford.

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