.png)
6 hours ago
1
One in eight women killed by men in the last 15 years were aged over 70, figures show, with a specialist charity reporting a growing number of older victims of domestic abuse seeking help.
A landmark report, released ahead of International Women’s Day by the Femicide Census, delves into the deaths of 2000 women killed by men. It shows that 262 women over the age of 70 have been killed since 2009.
Among them were Margaret Biddolph, 78, and Anne Leyland, 88, who were killed by debt-ridden taxi driver Andrew Flood in Southport in 2012. In 2018 Craig Keogh, 26, raped and murdered a 72-year-old before burgling her home.
They also include older women who were also subjected to extreme sexual violence. In 2024 the Guardian’s Killed Women Count campaign reported on every woman allegedly killed by a man.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that 375,000 people aged over 60 in England and Wales reported domestic abuse between April 2022 to March 2023. But a lack of media focus and specialist services meant the abuse of older women was often hidden and unexplored, said Karen Ingala Smith, co-founder of the Femicide Census.
“The deaths of older women don’t get enough attention,” she said. “I think that the vulnerability of older women, either living on their own or in care homes, isn’t properly recognised.”
Research by Prof Hannah Bows at Durham University showed that between 2010 and 2015, one in four domestic homicides involved a victim over the age of 60, with women more likely to be victims and men perpetrators. “This is particularly significant when you consider that people aged 60+ accounted for around 18% of our population at the time, but made up 25% of all domestic homicides,” she said. “So the idea that older people are less at risk of being murdered isn’t borne out by the data.”
According to Age UK, nearly two-thirds (63%) of adult family homicide victims are aged 55 and over, with older people as likely to be subjected to abuse from an adult child or grandchild as they are from an intimate partner. “It is both shocking and tragic,” said Caroline Abrahams, the charity’s director. “Older people are often overlooked in domestic abuse policies and services because their experiences don’t always match stereotypical perceptions of domestic abuse.”
Veronica Gray, deputy CEO at Hourglass, a charity working to prevent abuse of older people in the UK, said call demand had increased by 50% over the past two years. “Whether that is due to increased awareness, or an increase in cases, it is probably impossible to tell,” she said. “But I think it’s likely that with an ageing population there is more widespread abuse.”
Older women may also be less likely to disclose abuse, whether by a partner, child or grandchild, said Prof Sarah Lonbay, an expert in domestic abuse of older people at the University of Sunderland.
Her research with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) revealed that the abuse of some older victims had started when it was still considered a “family matter”. She said: “When they become older they may be less likely to contact services or disclose their experiences because they feel like they might not be believed, might be dismissed, or they might feel that actually they’re taking services away from younger women who need it more.”
Femicide Census’ report also showed that older women are more likely to be killed during a burglary than younger women, with 67% of women killed in the context of a burglary over the age of 60. These women were likely to be linked to “vulnerability that comes with their age: they are more likely to live alone and to be physically less strong,” according to the report.
Yet how women were killed during burglaries suggests that their deaths were not unintentional and were strongly linked to misogyny, said the report. In the killings of women over 60 by a stranger during a robbery, nearly half involved overkill, the use of excessive, gratuitous violence beyond that necessary to cause the victim’s death. At least four of the killings included sexual violence.
“We have to ask why we see the use of sexual and sustained violence against elderly women who are unknown to the much younger men who kill them,” said Ingala Smith. “The misogynistic intent in these killings is clear.”
