About 1.2million women and 800,000 men were victims of domestic abuse last year (Picture: PA)

Two million people suffered domestic abuse at the hands of partners or relatives last year.

About 1.2million women and 800,000 men were victims of physical, emotional and sexual attacks, a major crime study showed.

Sandra Horley, chief executive of the domestic violence charity, Refuge, said the figures ‘paint a bleak picture of the scale of domestic violence’.

Females aged between 16 and 24 were more likely to be victims of abuse, stalking and sexual assault, the survey said.


The research also revealed up to one in 12 people believes victims of serious sexual attacks are at least partly to blame if they are drunk, on drugs or heavily flirting.



Javed Khan, chief executive of Victim Support, said: ‘These alarming attitudes mean many more rape victims could be reluctant to report the crime – so rapists can get away without being punished.’ Four in ten victims of sex assaults also lacked the confidence to report the attack. Common reasons were embarrassment or the victim ‘didn’t think the police could do much to help’.

Jo Wood, of Rape Crisis, blamed the low level of reporting on a society that ‘still leads victims to believe that they must have somehow been at least partially to blame’.

The Office for National Statistics’ figures were among a raft of data based on the Crime Survey of England and Wales. While the level of violent incidents has fallen since 1995, there has been ‘no statistically significant change’ in the level of sexual assault and domestic abuse since 2008/09.

The Home Office said: ‘Violence against women and girls is an abhorrent crime and the government is committed to ending it.’