The last handful of signatures needed were a little slow coming in but a few days ago we hit that 2,500 target - thank you again for signing! Isle of Man Newspapers recently mentioned the issue and the campaign again in an article where a man was jailed for head-butting a woman during a brawl. The newspaper drew attention to the difference between jail time for a random assault on a stranger as opposed to only a small fine for a sustained attack on a partner - as if assault within the home is ok, or at least much less serious. The reality of course, is that assault and abuse within the home is experienced by victims as being much worse than assault by a stranger, because it is a shocking betrayal not a random act, and because it is likely to be one of many assaults (verbal, psychological and physical) which are ongoing, possibly for years and which form the pattern of behaviour that is domestic abuse. At least the Magistrate in the recent head-butting case took assault seriously, but when will we see similar seriousness given to domestic assaults? It looks like a new law on domestic abuse and coercive control is coming, our next challenge is to ensure that the Judiciary use that new law to hand down appropriately stringent sentences. In the meantime, to help equip us to further this Campaign, four of us will be attending a Conference on Coercive Control in Bristol, and we are hoping at least one MHK or law maker will come with us. If the new law is to have teeth it is essential that all those involved in imposing that law have a clear understanding of what Coercive Control is, and the impact that it has on victims. http://www.coercivecontrol.co.uk/cc-conference-2018. Thanks for your support!