There are eight steps to murder, eight stages that lead to the death of a woman at the hands of her partner. This year alone in Australia, we know 36 women have died violently.

In most cases, we don’t know yet who killed them. But new research might well stop killers in their tracks because Jane Monckton Smith is on to them.

There are warning signs for controlling, potentially violent behaviour. Credit:iStock

She’s been researching violence against women for 30 years and has completed a forensic analysis of more than 370 murders by men of women in Britain. She is a forensic criminologist at the University of Gloucestershire and for the past three years she has been through every single case of femicide by an intimate partner, looking for some kind of pattern, signs that might make it possible to predict who will end up dead at the hands of a current or former partner. She’s found that pattern and has just published her findings in the academic journal Violence Against Women.

She has one key tip. If your new boyfriend is super-attentive and tells you about his previous "psycho" girlfriend, that's a warning to get out as soon as possible. It’s a sign he doesn’t take responsibility for his actions when difficulties arise in a relationship.