A Northern Ireland woman who suffered horrendous domestic abuse at the hands of her cruel husband has backed plans to reform the law on murder, manslaughter and infanticide.

Long-suffering victim Nicola Henry was speaking after Security Minister Paul Goggins outlined a major review of the law to give confidence to the public and victims’ families and to ensure “that the punishment fits the crime”.

Among the proposals, the most controversial cases of domestic homicide would mean that, in the future, defendants who successfully claimed to have been “seriously wronged” or in fear of “serious violence” would be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph today, 39-year-old Nicola, from Coleraine, who suffered more than a decade of horrendous abuse, said she feels strongly that women should not be jailed for murdering an abusive husband or partner.

“No woman who has been subjected to abuse over a sustained period of time should have to go to jail,” she said.

“I definitely think it’s too much because when it comes to the worse case scenario, killing the abuser can be the only way out. With men like that it’s terrible.

“You know there is a chance that he would do it to you; you’re always going to feel that it’s only a matter of time before he kills you.”

Nicola’s husband Alistair was jailed for two years in May 2008, after pleading guilty to making threats to kill her. But because of time already spent in remand, the 44-year-old abuser could be out walking the streets again in a matter of weeks.

Over the years, Nicola claimed she suffered a horrendous catalogue of both verbal and physical abuse at the hands of her brutal husband.

And during one particularly harrowing episode, she said she was locked in a wardrobe for four days and forced to eat her own excrement.

In another, her pony tail was “scalped” from her head and framed in the family home.

Having finally found the courage to leave him when he was sent to prison a number of years ago, mother-of-three Nicola said that women need all the help they can get to extricate themselves from domestic abuse situations.

“I think the law needs to be fair,” she said.

“I thought about killing my husband, I really did, after all he put me through.

“And I don’t think I would have deserved to go to jail for life if I had. Women like me need to be protected.”

Under current laws, people who kill their partner after years of abuse are at risk of being convicted of murder, which carries a life sentence.

But as part of the government's plans, victims of sustained abuse who are accused of murder would have a statutory legal defence.

That means, if they can prove they were in fear of serious violence from the person they killed, they will be convicted of manslaughter for which the sentence is less severe.

The issue of domestic abuse was catapulted into the public arena once again earlier this year with the case of William David Streeter — one of the most shocking examples of violence against family members seen in Northern Ireland in recent years.

The former postman admitted savagely killing his wife's golden retriever dog and threatening to kill her as well.

He faced a series of charges going back to 2006, including seven charges of cruelty to a pedigree golden retriever dog, as well as making threats to kill his wife, Alison Streeter — who spoke out about domestic abuse in an effort to encourage more women to stand up to their violent partners.

The battered women who paid the ultimate price:

These are just a handful of recent cases in which young Northern Ireland women have lost their lives at the hands of violent partners:

October 1997: Londonderry woman Caroline Crossan (29) beaten to death by husband, John as their three children slept upstairs. Caroline had hot oil thrown over her in what was described by police at the time as one of the worst domestic violence cases ever seen in Northern Ireland.

October 2002: Angela Snoddy (21) was stabbed 70 times, almost severing her head, in a frenzied attack at her Newtownabbey home. Her ex-boyfriend Conor Doyle was later jailed for the killing.

January 2003: Nichola Dickson (26) was choked, stabbed in the chest and throat and had her wrists slit by her boyfriend, David McCord, in Ballycarry, near Larne.

January 2003: Gillian Doherty (43), right, was stabbed to death at her Portstewart home by her boyfriend, former RUC reservist William Coulter. A neighbour told the Belfast Telegraph she had witnessed “horrendous” scenes of domestic violence.