MORE than 60 referrals have been made to the domestic abuse disclosure scheme running in North Ayrshire.

The scheme, launched in November 2014, allows women and men to find
out whether their partner has an abusive background.

Ayrshire and Aberdeen were the first to operate a successful pilot scheme, known as Clare’s Law after Clare Wood who was murdered by her violent ex-boyfriend.

And since its launch, Ayrshire Police Division have received 124 applications with 54 successful disclosures.

North Ayrshire received the most referrals to the project with 61.

East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire have 51 and 22 referrals respectively.

The scheme operates under two separate applications of Right to Ask and Power to Tell.

Right to Ask involves people asking about a partner’s background while under Power to Tell, police are able to act on indirect intelligence on a specific person.

Speaking about the figures, Superintendent Linda Jones from Ayrshire Police Division said: “We robustly investigate all reports of domestic abuse and those responsible will face the consequences of their actions.

“We continue to work closely with our partners to prevent domestic
abuse and to intervene early to protect potential victims.

Superintendent Jones added: “This scheme plays an important role in
helping us as we work together to stop domestic abuse.”