MORE than 100 women were killed by men in the last year, with almost one in five involving sons as suspects of matricide, latest figures reveal.

The Femicide Census’s Counting Dead Women said that 111 women have been killed in Britain since last year’s International Women’s Day, with ages ranging from 17 to 93.

The number of women whose sons were the suspects was the highest rate recorded in 16 years of data. 

Femicide Census co-founder Clarrie O’Callaghan said that collapse in mental health care, problematic substance abuse and housing insecurity were contributing factors to the rise in rates. 

“Despite our reporting on matricides for 10 years, no state agency has yet to acknowledge matricide, let alone take responsibility for tackling it,” she said.

“Women are rarely recognised as being at risk of fatal violence from their sons, and there are few dedicated services for older women in the whole of the UK.”

Reading the victims’ names in Commons for the 11th year on Thursday, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls (VAWG) Jess Philips announced plans to set up a new system to ensure Domestic Homicide Review recommendations are acted on.

The government published its VAWG strategy in December, laying out plans to tackle harmful behaviours among boys and teach pupils about healthy relationships and the impact of pornography.

In a statement, Femicide Census said the strategy is “of course a step in the right direction,” but added that “there are so many areas of intervention that specialist organisations providing vital services to victim-survivors know would and do work that are not fully developed or recognised in the strategy.”

It said: “Funding remains a critical issue. We need new money not previously committed money redistributed. 

“Specialist women-led charities that provide the only service in areas that have some of the highest rates of femicide in the country, or are one of the handful of charities supporting migrant women, are at risk of closure or having services removed through lack of funding or funding models that pit specialist locally developed charities against companies not grounded in the local community. 

“This has been going on for years in the sector, and this is a government that knows that, and yet there is little change on the ground.

“We hope for the day that the reading of the names takes less time every year because fewer women have been killed.”