HONOUR-BASED violence and forced marriage cases were reported 22 times in Bournemouth & Poole last year, Dorset Police have confirmed.

This information has been released to coincide with a conference taking place at Salterns Hotel, Poole, on Thursday, marking International Women’s Day.

Among those set to speak at the conference, organised by Safer Poole Partnership to highlight the spectre of honour-based violence and forced marriage, is Jasvinder Sanghera – founder of national charity Karma Nirvana – and the Metropolitan Police’s Detective Inspector Clive Driscoll.

Detective Inspector Driscoll led the inquiry into the honour killing of Surjit Athwal, which took place in India in 1998. To date, those responsible for committing the actual killing have evaded justice – although Surjit’s husband and mother-in-law were jailed in 2007 for ordering the murder.

This was the first UK conviction for an honour killing where no body was ever recovered.

Dorset Police’s serious crimes manager Detective Chief Inspector Jez Noyce, and the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for Wessex, John Montague, will also speak at the conference.

Borough of Poole council leader Elaine Atkinson said: “Poole is a low crime area so people don’t often realise that honour-based violence and forced marriage happen here.

“The aim of this conference is to raise awareness of these crimes among frontline workers in a variety of roles as well as community groups.”

n To follow the conference on Twitter use the hashtag #HBVPoole. The Safer Poole Partnership will also be taking questions during a live Twitter Q&A between midday-1pm on Friday.

Tweet your question with the hashtag #HBVPoole.

If you are experiencing honour-based violence you can speak to Karma Nirvana in confidence by calling 0800 5 999 247, or vist karmanirvana.org.uk. The Forced Marriage Unit is also available, 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday, via 020 7008 0151.