Football blamed for violence rise in town's homes

While a wave of enthusiasm swept the country during last month's Euro 2004 Championships, a sinister side-effect saw violence in the home increase by almost one third.

Several victims of domestic violence were treated in hospital for minor injuries, cuts and bruises, but none were seriously hurt.

And "alcohol and raised spirits" were today blamed for the increase, which left police dealing with more than 600 disturbances during the five-week championship.

As a result of those figures, police chiefs have revealed domestic violence officers will be on duty in the town in future during high-profile Bolton Wanderers games.

Overall, there was a 25 per cent rise in domestic violence in Euro 2004, but during the two weekend England beat Croatia and Switzerland, that figure rose to 30 per cent. Even though England were knocked out by Portugal in the quarter finals, the high level of calls continued to pour in.

A crackdown was launched by Bolton Police throughout the championship to support victims of abuse.

Officers specially trained to deal with domestic violence attended all incidents with investigating officers.

They used cameras to photograph injuries and help victims make statements, improving the chance of the case proceeding through the courts. Arrests were made at more than 80 per cent of the disturbances as part of the Operation Homesafe.

Sgt Jo Lally from Bolton Police's Domestic Violence Unit said: "The number of incidents was very high. "We found it was a combination of alcohol and raised spirits during the games.

"Traditionally, people drink while they are watching the matchess, whether it is at home or in the pub, and that can lead to problems.

"In the future, we are going to make sure we have domestic violence officers on duty during high profile Bolton Wanderers games or other sporting events because of the rise in incidents."

"We will be using the information from this operation to target repeat offenders who are prolific in Bolton. Not just men, women as well."

The Euro 2004 operation, which is an extension of a ongoing pilot scheme, was launched because research has shown that incidents rise during high profile sporting events.

Increased adrenaline and excitement, together with large consumption of alcohol, can lead to disturbances breaking out.

Between June 4th until Sunday (((July 11)))))), there were 624 domestic incidents involving a range of different relationships including heterosexual and same gender couples, family members and friends.

Officers were not just called to deal with male perpetrators as many of the calls involved females.

During the previous five week period including May, there were 500 reports made to the police.

Operation Homesafe, the only pilot of its kind within Greater Manchester, was launched in January.

It is aimed at making a real impact on the lives of victims. Officers are providing strong evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service to help them take more cases to court.

Sgt Lally added: "The domestic violence officers were able to use intelligence to inform the investigation teams whether any previous incidents have ever been reported.

"If a person told officers it was the first time there had been a disturbance, we were able to check against our database. This led to more arrests.

"We take domestic violence very seriously and are determined to tackle it.

"We have had a lot of positive reaction to the operation. Many of the victims have said they appreciated the support and information our domestic violence officers were able to give them."

A spokesman for Fortalice, a women's refuge in Bolton, said staff had not noticed a rise in the number of women coming forward for help - because they are busy all year round.

"We are always full and receive calls for help at all hours of the day and night.

"From speaking to the women, we have found that alcohol does play a part in some incidents but not all.

"It is more about control. Perpatrators want to have control over their lives."