ANDREW Foulds laughed as he left Teesside Crown Court.

Few others will, however, find his behaviour funny when they hear how he fractured his girlfriend's skull after she ended their relationship.

It was very possible Foulds was laughing out of relief after a judge allowed him to walk free, rather than handing him a custodial sentence. Perhaps his surprise is understandable given that a two-year-old girl witnessed the violence and that his partner suffered life-changing scars - both physical and mental - during the incident.

The court case came as a Crown Prosecution Service report revealed that there were more than 107,000 prosecutions for violence towards women and girls in the year to April - an 18 per cent increase on the previous year.

The judge who allowed Foulds to walk free, Eric Elliott, said himself earlier this year that domestic violence was almost reaching epidemic levels.

Of course, the increase in prosecutions is welcome, but had he heard Foulds' laughter from the judges' chambers, Judge Elliott may have reflected that few victims who read about this case would be reassured and encouraged to cooperate with the authorities.

Campaigners welcomed the CPS report and praised prosecutors, the police and victims for their work in securing more convictions than ever before, but once domestic violence cases go to court we think campaigners are right to demand that judges take the crimes more seriously.

No wonder victims find it hugely frustrating to go through a prosecution only to see their abusers let off.

Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own home and too often those who ignore this right are treated with leniency by the judicial system.