“One case I will always recall involved a very young woman called Emma (she was a girl at the start of my involvement) who was in a relationship with an older man who completely controlled her life. She was physically, psychologically, and horrifically sexually abused by him.
The Domestic Abuse team (and other agencies) tried numerous times to help her but she refused, she didn’t have the strength, the confidence or the evidence etc.
She was eventually free of him for but only after he had badly assaulted her once again. This time we were able to secure a conviction against him but sadly he wasn’t convicted of all the offences against her and therefore only went to Prison for a few years not the term he deserved.
Upon his release the abuser went on to abuse another young woman, it was at this point the young girl felt she was now strong enough to tell her story which enabled us to properly investigate his historical abuse; moreover and importantly the case went to MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference is a victim focused information sharing and risk management meeting attended by all key agencies, where high risk cases are discussed.) which resulted in the new partner receiving a Clare’s Law disclosure and she thankfully ended her relationship with him.
It’s been 8/ 9 years, I still speak to Emma, I see her life on Facebook and it’s so great to see how she has turned her life around despite her still suffering medically because of her violent abuser.
Emma affected me but she taught me never to give up!”