ABSTRACT
This has been the most dif®cult book I have ever written. Thinking and talking about psychology and domestic violence and abuse is harrowing. The experiences women describe are brutal, malicious and unforgiveable. Even as I am writing this, more stories of domestic violence ¯ash up on the home page of my computer screen. Twenty-®ve minutes ago for example the trial of a man in Bedfordshire (England) for killing his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her more than forty times was reported as postponed until November 2009. His counsel have pleaded diminished responsibility and the court has requested psychological reports. What could possibly cause a man to in¯ict such a vicious and frenzied attack on someone he was once so close to? Just a few days ago in the English Midlands a 9-year-old girl was found strangled in a lorry and the driver (her mother's boyfriend) was found hanged in a ®eld nearby having presumably taken his own life after killing the young girl. A couple of days later:1
Detective Chief Inspector Tricia Kirk, of Northamptonshire Police,
said today that police could not rule out that there was some sexual
touching involved in the incident that led to her death. Ms Kirk also
revealed Walker, 40, the boyfriend of Stacey's mother Roxanne, had
a history of a domestic incident involving his wife of three years who
he was currently in the process of divorcing. She said: `He was
cautioned for that offence and we have no other criminal records for
him.' She said the incident involved an assault on his wife in 2006.
