A victim of domestic violence was left "devastated" after the police accidentally closed her case due to an administrative error and she was left in the dark for months.

The east Suffolk woman, who is in her 30s, was domestically abused on Boxing Day 2021 and reported the incident to Suffolk Constabulary the next day.

After victim statements were taken on January 3, 2022, she faced a five-month wait to see what action would be taken but was given notice in May that the Crown Prosecution Service had returned a decision to press charges for 'assault by beating'.

She was then told that the paperwork would be submitted immediately, but that a court date would potentially be slow due to a backlog of cases.

She called for updates every week from May to September, but was informed by her support worker that there had been an "error in upload timings" and the case had therefore been closed.

The victim said she was "devastated" when she found out that the case had been closed, adding: "It took a long time to pluck up the courage to even speak about it and I felt I didn't get the justice I deserved."

She submitted a complaint in September but, three months later, said she had still not heard anything and added that it seemed like the police were "happy for the people who have been charged to walk free".

A spokesman for Suffolk police said: "Suffolk Constabulary is committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice wherever we can.

"However, we accept on this occasion issues arose which culminated in the case not being progressed to court when it should have been.

"We met with the victim at the time to offer our sincere apologies for the error and for the distress this had caused, and we have contacted her again to arrange follow-up."

He added: "We will be reviewing our processes to ensure we are doing all we can to avoid similar issues from occurring in the future.

"We want to assure victims this incident is not a reflection of our attitude towards matters of domestic abuse and we are determined to do all we can to help them."