TENS of thousands of women who have suffered domestic abuse have also been forced to have sex with their partner, new research suggests.

One in five women (20.1 per cent) who has endured physical abuse at the hands of their partner said they had also been raped by them.

The figures, from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, suggest that 55,200 women have been forced into sex by their partner.

The research also shows that more than half of all victims of serious sexual assault (54.8 per cent) say it was their partner who carried out the attack, while fewer than one in five rape victims has reported it to the police.

Charities claim the research reveals the “invisible reality” for many women facing abuse.

Rape Crisis Scotland reported that it was seeing increasing numbers of women who have been sexually abused by their partner.

Sandy Brindley, national coordinator for the charity, said: “For too long, rape within relationships has been an invisible reality for many women.

"What this study shows is that rape in a relationship is far more common than people realise.

“There is a pressing need to raise public awareness that coercing a partner to have sex is rape, and every bit as serious a crime as any other form of rape.”

The charity said anecdotal evidence suggests more and more women are coming to their centres for help after being attacked by their partner.

Isabelle Kerr, manager of Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre, said staff there have seen a “growing trend” in such cases over the last two years from women who have suffered “both physical and sexual violence at the hands of their partners or spouses”.

Scottish Women’s Aid added that the organisation has “long known” that domestic abuse and sexual coercion go hand in hand.

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of the charity, said: “The vast majority of perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are assaulting women they have a relationship with.

“Although we have long treated domestic abuse and sexual assault as separate crimes, in women’s lives they very often are all part of the same phenomenon. Our approach to investigating these crimes should reflect that.”

The survey revealed that 2.7 per cent of Scottish adults have experienced at least one form of serious sexual assault since the age of 16.

The proportion was higher for women (4.6 per cent) compared to men (0.6 per cent), with 94.1 per cent of victims identifying the offender as male and 87.4 per cent saying they knew the perpetrator.

Only 16.8 per cent of people who reported experiencing forced sexual intercourse had gone on to report it to police.

The most common reason given was fear that it would make matters worse.

The findings also show that 6.4 per cent of adults have experienced some kind of stalking or harassment in the last year, with young women aged 16 to 24 the most likely victims.

Ms Brindley described the level of harassment of young women as “alarming” and claimed the statistics match what charity staff are seeing in schools.

She said: “This absolutely corresponds with what we have found through the prevention work we are doing in schools, where young women are telling us that sexual harassment is an everyday occurrence for them, as is pressure to share intimate images of themselves.

“What is urgently required is intervention with young people across the country to ensure that they have access to information about consent, healthy relationships, and where to go if something happens.”

About one in ten (9.7 per cent) 16 to 24-year-olds had experienced stalking and harassment, rising to 12.7 per cent for women in this age group.

More than half (54.9 per cent) of victims knew the offender in some way while 15 per cent said the culprit was their partner.

Just 18.9 per cent said they had reported the stalking and harassment to police.

Of those who had experienced abuse from their partner within the last 12 months, 28 per cent have told no one about the abuse, while just 11.6 per cent reported it to police.