CPS to train staff on ‘spectrum of abuse’ in violence against women and girls

The director of public prosecutions said abuse ‘often involves different layers of offending’. Photograph: Roos Koole/Getty Images

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will train its staff to recognise the “wide spectrum of abuse” in cases of violence against women, after new data found that domestic abuse was present in more than a third of rape cases, and in more than eight out of 10 cases of stalking and image-based abuse.

Launching its five-year Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, the body said its main aims were to increase casework quality and increase trust in the CPS.