Gayle is a specialist family lawyer who has more than 15 years' experience in all areas of family law litigation, both public and private. She represents the full range of clients and has a particular interest in clients who are vulnerable. Gayle has dealt with the full range of family proceedings, including complex cases involving domestic violence. 

Gayle begins with essential definitional differences between homicide and murder. She then moves on to discuss “femicide” and demonstrates how domestic homicide is a gendered crime. Gayle does important work here in dispelling harmful myths surrounding domestic violence, highlighting important facts about victims, perpetrators and a wider context of evidenced misogyny. She refers to relevant data throughout. 

Key words/topics

Homicide

Murder

Femicide

Gender-based crime

Domestic homicide

Monckton-Smith’s 8-stage framework

Coercive control

Risk factors in suspects

Victim vulnerabilities

Alcohol and drug abuse 

Mental health

Psychological Abuse

Emotional Abuse

Physical Abuse

Sexual Abuse

Financial Abuse

Harassment

Stalking

Online/digital abuse