DOMESTIC violence is on the rise in the Redbridge - but police claim this is down to greater confidence in the justice system.

Overall, crime levels have actually fallen in Redbridge. There were 2,000 fewer incidents of rape, violent crime, robbery and burglary between March 2007 and March 2008, which equates to a drop of nine per cent.

But domestic violence in the borough has risen by nearly 2.5 per cent, putting the total number at incidents at 1,350.

Borough commander Dave Grant has defended the figures, and insisted they should not be taken at face value.

He added: "Domestic crime is a strange one because we don't judge it on how many crimes are reported. It's on how many are solved and if we avoid repeated victimisation.

"The fact the figures have gone up just shows that more people are reporting domestic violence, which is a good thing."

A mum-of-three, however, who took her children to her native Pakistan last year in a desperate attempt to break free from a brutal, loveless marriage in Ilford, said police were not doing enough.

The woman, known only as Sadia, was sent to England by her family in 1997 to marry a man twice her age she did not know.

She said she was beaten and treated like a slave by her husband's family before she managed to escape to her homeland with her children.

She has now returned to the UK to fight her husband for custody rights, but is living in hiding after being threatened with a gun by her in-laws in Ilford High Street.

She said: "My case is not unusual.

"I know at least 60 or 70 other women in Redbridge who are in the situation I was in, and the police just don't seem to bother."

Domestic violence support worker from Ali Sheppard said although figures showed an increase in reported crime, agencies should work together to provide a holistic approach for those still suffering in silence.

She added: "We know that two women a week are killed in the UK as a result of domestic violence, but a lesser known figure is that ten women commit suicide each week as a result of not coming forward."

Ms Sheppard normally receives 150 referrals a month, but said the figure was gradually increasing, and she received 240 in March alone.