Sask. victims may be warned of partners' violent past

A father who fought for more disclosure by police to protect victims of domestic violence says "Clare's Law" has proved its worth in the United Kingdom.

Michael Brown believes it may also save lives in Canada, as Saskatchewan considers becoming the first province to adopt such a measure.

The province said on Wednesday it is considering emulating the U.K. law allowing police to divulge what would otherwise be private information, as part of other measures to address domestic violence.

Brown's daughter, Clare Wood was murdered in 2009 by her ex-boyfriend in the Great Manchester area.

The 36-year-old met George Appleton online and they dated for about 15 months.

"But unknown to us he'd already done six years in prison for holding a lady at knifepoint for 12 hours," said her father.

Brown said he took an instant dislike to Appleton and asked his daughter not to bring him around. Eventually she, too, had had enough.

"My daughter gave him his marching orders and apparently he couldn't take 'no' for an answer," Brown said.

He celebrated Christmas with his daughter in 2008, but early in the new year he hadn't heard from her.

He sent a family member to check on her.

"Apparently I'd sent him into hell because the house had been set on fire and my daughter had been beaten, raped, strangled and set on fire," Brown said.

As more details emerged after her death, Brown began to push for change.

"I thought it was a disgrace that the police couldn't tell my daughter she was in trouble," he said. "And it was frustrating for them not to be able to tell my daughter this lad's done it before."

Now, under the law named for his daughter, what would ordinarily be private information about a person's criminal history can be disclosed to someone if police deem it necessary.

"So now if anybody suspects domestic violence, whether it be a partner, a child — whatever — they can approach the police in this country and go through the channels and if it's warranted, it'll be told," Brown said.

Saskatchewan's justice minister said this province will consider a similar measure to allow police to disclose information.

"So they would be authorized to release that information to the victim so the victim could say, 'Oh gee I don't want to be with that person anymore, or I need to take some other steps for protection,'" said Don Morgan.

He said the government will need to work out who could trigger such disclosure and in what circumstances.

"I think the expectation would be that there would be some sort of significant ongoing relationship rather than sort of use it as a screening process for dating — but I think it's got potential to be a useful tool," he said.