A remarkable and resilient young woman told me her story when I was a city councillor. She had moved more than 100 miles to Brighton with her daughter to find safety after surviving a toxic and violent relationship with a bodybuilding drug dealer pumped up on steroids and addicted to cocaine.
The council found her a house in a quiet and anonymous street in the city, and she started a new life, beginning a degree at one of the city’s universities. Her daughter was very happy at her new school.
One evening she came home to find a doll nailed to her front door through the eyes. Her abuser had found her.
She called me, and we swiftly rehoused her. I didn’t hear from her again, and I hope everything worked out for her.
Her story illustrates how difficult it is for women facing domestic abuse. Almost always it is they, rather than the abuser, who have to move and find a new home.
And they know that, however far they move and however hard they try, it can be difficult to shake off violent partners.
All too often we hear about women who have been found and killed by former partners, who sometimes kill their children as well.
We also hear about women’s fears not being taken seriously enough by police forces and other agencies up and down the country, with disastrous consequences.
In these circumstances, the work of Brighton Women’s Centre and its partnerships with RiSE, the Sussex police and crime commissioner, the police, the probation service, local authorities and others is so critical to the safety and wellbeing of women and their families.
The Labour government’s determination to deal with domestic abuse is welcome.
But it is essential that ministers work with established local partnerships, fund and support them and foster the development of new partnerships in areas where they don’t exist.
Finally, of course, we all need to recognise that this is a problem created by men and not the women they abuse.
More needs to be done to educate boys and men and turn them away from violence against women, particularly at a time when so much misogynistic hate is directed against girls and women at on social media.
We all have a part to play in turning back the rising tide of domestic abuse.
Bill Randall was the Mayor of Brighton and Hove in 2012-13. Brighton Women’s Centre was one of the charities he supported during his mayoral year.
To read his report on the 50th anniversary of the Brighton Women’s Centre, click here.
