Major conference on honour killings

The conference has been organised by Lancashire Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service on behalf of the Lancashire Criminal Justice Board.

Representatives from the community, police, CPS, survivors of honour crimes and statutory and voluntary groups will attend the event, funded by the Lancashire Criminal Justice Board.

It is aimed at raising awareness of the issue while examining ways of addressing the issue and establishing the scale of the problem in Lancashire.

The event is also aimed at encouraging reporting and protecting and supporting victims and witnesses of honour based violence - a crime or incident, which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or community.

Nationally around 12 people a year are estimated to be victims of so-called honour killings and many other people are victims of other serious offences but the scale of the issue in Lancashire is unclear.

Det Supt Graham Herrmann, head of the Public Protection Unit at Lancashire Constabulary, said: "We see that so-called honour-based violence is an extension of domestic abuse which seems to affect certain communities more than others.

"We would like to build on our strong track record on domestic abuse in relation to honour-based violence and in order to do so we need to better understand the problems faced by our communities and encourage victims and anyone else with concerns to contact us.

"This event will be valuable in bringing together different perspectives in order that we can work effectively together to deal with this issue."

Vivien Mumford, the Crown Prosecution Service lead for force marriage and Honour based violence, added: "There is no honour in the commission of murder, rape, kidnap and the many other acts, behaviour and conduct which they involve."

The event will be held at the Ellis Conference Centre, Lancashire Constabulary HQ, Hutton, Preston on Wednesday, January 16.