He said suspects are increasingly being released under investigation (RUI) because an overstretched criminal justice system cannot deal with cases immediately — dragging out the length of time that investigations take, and leaving perpetrators free to contact their victims and potentially offend again.

Wettone listed the factors that he believes are behind the increased murder rate: “The changes to the bail act pushed through by [Theresa] May meant more suspects were released under investigation with no bail conditions, coupled with cuts to refuges, plus loss of experienced officers and reduction in numbers working in domestic abuse investigation units, meaning detectives carry an increased workload so that lengthens the time in some cases [for] the investigation to be completed.”

The Secret Barrister, a lawyer and author, told BuzzFeed News they agreed that releasing suspects under investigation could be one factor leading to an increase in deaths.

“The failure of the criminal justice system to deal with domestic violence means that high-risk offenders remain RUI for months, if not years, without adequate protections in place,” they said.

“There is then a delay of another year or so if a crown court trial is required, during which time offenders are not getting the intervention they need to reduce their risk.”

An overstretched prison system and probation service also mean that even once offenders are convicted, they are either not getting the rehabilitation support they need, or not being dealt with appropriately due to a lack of capacity.

One probation officer told BuzzFeed News that domestic violence offences are not always treated with sufficient gravity. “It's not uncommon for breach of protective orders [involving] non-mol[estation] and restraining orders to be dismissed by the CPS or for the sentence to be very lenient,” they said, “despite what we know about persistent breach of controls and failure to let go, and loss of relationship and link to domestic homicide.”

Jonathan Black, a criminal defence specialist and a partner at BSB Solicitors, said that not only were public services not able to support victims and deal with offenders in the after-event, but that austerity measures were also leading to more incidents of domestic abuse in the first place.

“Social decline, poverty, there’s always going to be an increase in domestic violence as a result of economic tension,” he said, adding that this had been evident in cases that he had dealt with.

“I do think poverty, deprivation, benefit cuts you see are having an effect on domestic situations, I do think that is a major factor, in my view, you see the tensions building up in domestic situations,” he added.

Heather Harvey, research and development manager for the charity Nia, which campaigns to end violence against women and children, also said the reasons behind the rise were multifaceted, but that austerity lay behind many of them.