This archive report was first published on 21 September 2019.
Scotland's High Court in Edinburgh recently witnessed a disturbing case of domestic violence. Thomas Dunn, 25, was sentenced to seven years in prison for putting a 13-month-old baby girl into a tumble dryer, causing a fractured skull.
According to Dunn, the child had climbed into the machine, and he simply 'tucked her leg in.' However, he later admitted that it was a 'bad judgment call.'
The incident occurred while Dunn was caring for the child at his flat in Arbroath, Scotland, to give her teenage mother a rest.
Meanwhile, in the UK, domestic violence has seen a marked increase. Figures obtained by the BBC from police forces across the country show that last year, 173 people were killed in domestic incidents, an increase of 32 deaths on 2017 and the highest figure in five years.
Many of the deaths were inflicted by knives, including the cases of Charlotte Huggins, Mary Anne Sowerby, and Alison Hunt. Their ex-boyfriends, Michael Rolle, Lee Sowerby, and Vernon Holmes, were imprisoned for a minimum of 20 years, 11 years, and 25 years, respectively.
On average, police in England and Wales receive over 100 calls relating to domestic abuse every hour. The most recent figures available from the Crime Survey of England and Wales state that some 1.3 million women experienced some form of domestic abuse in the year ending March 2018.
Experts say there are many more cases where the victims, generally women, do not report the incident.
Elsewhere, a survey of 2,004 adults in the UK found that a fifth of participants thought veal came from deer rather than dairy calves, and one in four had no idea what animal provides salami.
Additionally, two black British army soldiers, Nkululeko Zulu and Hani Gue, won claims of racial discrimination after testifying that they faced years of harassment during their service.
The men, who served with the 3rd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment based in Colchester, said they intended to seek compensation.
As the UK grapples with domestic violence and racism, a recent review for the Ministry of Defence called for a change in culture to deal with unacceptable levels of racism, sexism, and bullying.
The Army said it takes such allegations extremely seriously and is working hard to stamp out racism and attract more ethnic minority recruits.
