If I want to buy a car I can see the history of everyone that has owned it. If I am buying a house I can request a surveyor’s report and check every last detail before I commit to signing the deeds.

And yet, in choosing a life partner - the biggest decision you will ever make - you enter this contract blindfolded.

Sure, you can ask their background, meet their family and take counsel from your friends about this future spouse, but ultimately you rely solely on gut instinct.

For Clare Wood, her misguided instinct was to prove fatal after meeting a man through Facebook.

She had no idea this man was a brutal and dangerous individual, with a record of domestic violence against women and one conviction for a knifepoint kidnapping. He would later murder the 36-year-old. It’s impossible not to feel the utmost sympathy and compassion for her father, who is gallantly campaigning for ‘Clare’s law’ to allow people access to their partner’s past.

Domestic violence cases are staggeringly and despairingly common.

According to the charity Refuge, two women are killed each week by a current or former partner, with a quarter of women suffering domestic violence at some stage during their lifetime. And the problem is not confined to female victims - it is estimated that one in six men has suffered at the hands of a partner, with the number of women convicted of domestic violence rising rapidly.

Imagine the horror if your sister or daughter - or brother or son - was to be one of those statistics and tell me you wouldn’t support Clare’s law in a heartbeat. One obvious flaw in the proposal is that many people involved in domestic violence have no criminal record, so this is no guarantee of a person’s good character.

The other lingering doubt is over how this information service could work in practice. Would spent convictions be included? How would people be able to access this information and how can we make sure it is reliable? If there is someone with a history of domestic abuse living in your street, will your neighbours be launching vigilante groups to hound them away? And what about the spirit of forgiveness and giving people a second chance?

I can see serious complications if this person is later standing trial: it seems virtually impossible to ensure a fair outcome if the entire community has been informed about their past. The ultimate conundrum seems to question what extent we have to sacrifice justice to protect people. I have no easy answer to that.

My only certainty is that my heart goes out to Clare’s father, who is fighting a noble cause for the sake of his tragic daughter.

A fledgling relationship should be a time of great happiness and joy - the first meeting, first date, first kiss. How sad that we live in a world where the first landmark could be checking whether your partner has the disposition to hurt you.