Tory MP abused by ex-husband backs report calling for change to parental contact law

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A Tory MP is backing calls for ministers to change the law to stop 'privileging' a father's right to contact his children over the safety and well-being of victims of domestic violence.

Right to Equality, which campaigns for legal reform to support the rights of women and girls, said it wanted to ensure that the current “presumption of contact be completely and permanently removed” and will report to Parliament on Monday. demanding change.

Kate Kniveton, Conservative MP for Burton and Uttoxeter, has already been found by a family court judge to have been raped and abused by her ex-husband and former minister Andrew Griffiths. She said it is “clear that we need legislative change to create a safer environment for children.”

“I support the Right to Equality campaign as an ambassador for a presumption of no contact with children in cases of domestic violence, we oppose the current pro-contact culture that fails to protect survivors and their children,” she said.

“We believe that no child should be forced to be in contact with an abusive parent. »

Ms Kniveton supports calls for change from Right to Equality (PA Media)

Under English and Welsh law , domestic abusers and child sex offenders retain their parental rights. rights, even if they target their own children. This allows them to retain influence over where the child lives, as well as their healthcare and education.

Claire Waxman OBE, London's first independent victims' commissioner, in a interview with The Independent, previously described the law as it stood as "state-sanctioned abuse" and called for change.

A court ruling in The family in 2021 concluded that Mr Griffiths, a former Conservative MP for Burton, had – on the balance of probabilities – pressured Ms Kniveton to engage in sexual activity, repeatedly raped her and had use of “coercive and controlling behavior” against him.

The decision on contact with children was overturned the following year by a high court. Judge of the court....