Victims of domestic violence have been let down by Stormont’s collapse, Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Claire Sugden has said.

Ms Sugden said legislation to introduce a specific offence of domestic abuse would have been laid before the Assembly this month.

She said: “Thousands of victims of domestic abuse have been left suffering and abandoned because Stormont collapsed and I have been unable to complete my job.”

Ms Sugden said the legislation would have been “on its first stage in the floor of the house by now had the government not collapsed”.

She had named the introduction of a specific offence of domestic abuse - as was done in England and Wales in 2015 - as one of her key priorities on becoming Justice Minister last year.