The government’s lead adviser on domestic abuse has written to the editor of the Sun to condemn the newspaper’s decision to publish a front page interview with JK Rowling’s first husband, under the headline: “I slapped JK and I’m not sorry.” In the letter seen by the Guardian, Nicole Jacobs, the independent domestic abuse commissioner, said it was “unacceptable that the Sun has chosen to repeat and magnify the voice of someone who openly admits to violence against a partner”. Jacobs joined a chorus of voices speaking out against the newspaper, which described the remarks by Rowling’s ex as a “sick taunt” against the Harry Potter creator. “The media can play a vital role in shining a light on this issue and bringing it out of the shadows, but articles such as this one instead feed the shame that so many survivors will feel every day, minimising their experiences and allowing perpetrators to continue to abuse without fear of consequence,” Jacobs wrote to Victoria Newton, who was appointed the Sun’s editor in February. “I am troubled knowing that this article comes at a particularly difficult and dangerous time for victims and survivors, many of whom are being forced to stay under lockdown conditions with their perpetrator. The huge increases in calls to helplines is testament to that.” She adds: “I will continue to fight the culture of disbelief and minimisation that is sadly such a common part of the public discourse on this terrible crime.” Domestic abuse claims the lives of around 100 people every year, and last year there were 2.4 million adult victims. Jane Keeper, the director of operations at Refuge, said: “The front page of the Sun this morning is as irresponsible as it is disappointing. “It would ordinarily be troubling for such an editorial decision to be made - but to run with this during lockdown, when demand to Refuge’s national domestic abuse helpline have increased by 66%, is shocking. What this has done is give national media coverage to a perpetrator of domestic abuse to attempt to justify his actions. “It is never acceptable to hit a woman. The first ‘slap’ can lead to a pattern of violence – and domestic abuse is against the law.” Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, tweeted that the Sun headline was “awful”. Gillian Martin, a member of the Scottish parliament, wrote on Twitter that the article would be “beyond triggering for many abuse survivors, and enabling to abusers”. “It is irresponsible and dangerous. I could weep for the way women are treated by the tabloid press – still – in 2020,” she said. Jay Mitchinson, the editor of the Yorkshire Post, said his journalists reported every day on domestic abuse cases in the Yorkshire courts, but the paper would never “blast up” an alleged perpetrator’s defence. The hashtag #dontbuythesun was trending on Twitter in the UK on Thursday night. The interview with Jorge Arantes comes amid a tumultuous few days for JK Rowling, who wrote in response to criticism of her public comments on transgender issues that she had been the victim of abuse in her first marriage, although she did not name Arantes. “I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces,” she wrote.