- The Guardian,
- Monday December 22 2003
Jennifer was taking her dog for a walk when she saw her former partner. Her palms began to sweat and she was rooted to the spot as she stared at him.
The violent man she had lived with, who had been jailed for 33 months for making threats to kill and harassment, had been freed from prison early. No one had thought to tell her. "I didn't even have my restraining order or my mobile phone in my handbag because I thought he was still in prison," she says.
Jennifer - not her real name - is softly spoken and in her mid-40s. She had been happily married until the death of her husband. Before she met her abusive partner, the concept of domestic violence was alien to her.
"I was standing absolutely still with my dog. It was as if I was seeing things. The sweat just came out of my hands. I couldn't move, it was like I was paralysed. Then he grins over at me," she says.
She phoned the Advance project and the trained advocate who had been working with her rang back and confirmed the man had got out of prison early. Jennifer had to get a neighbour to come to her flat as she was too frightened to be alone.
Before he had been sentenced, her ex-partner had been given bail for a month. Two days later he had appeared at her window brandishing a knife.
Advance, which provides 24-hour crisis response support and advice to survivors of violence, was set up in November 1998 in Hammersmith and Fulham, west London, as a pilot project.
It followed research which showed that only a small number of domestic violence cases ever got to court and even fewer led to successful prosecutions. Last year, it had 601 referrals and since April it has received 300. The majority of the women have children. More than 80% of the women it works with eventually leave their partners and live safely.
Advance aims to increase the safety of survivors of domestic violence and their children and to hold abusers accountable for their actions. It has an innovative approach and has provided domestic violence awareness training for the entire Hammersmith and Fulham police force, magistrates across London, district judges, sixth formers, Victim Support volunteers and the borough's housing department.
When the project discovered that it cost between £2,000 and £3,000 in legal costs to obtain an injunction by the traditional route, it trained its advocates in DIY injunctions.
The approach is paying dividends, as they are seeing a higher success rate for women seeking protection through the courts. The number of cases recorded as crimes has increased to 79% and convictions have risen from 10% to 39%.
Many clients can't see a future without violence and abuse and don't know where to begin. Advance helps them to plan a future for themselves and their children.
Bear Montique, the manager of Advance, says: "There was one woman who had been stabbed with a knife straight into the top of the head. She walked here. Another woman walked from Paddington with a fractured skull.
"So many women leave in the night and they aren't even wearing shoes. We had one woman call from a phone box and she was wearing just a T-shirt."
She believes it is outrageous that two women a week die at the hands of a partner. "If two football fans a week were killed there would be an outcry. Domestic violence touches so many other areas - money, housing and immigration. We deal so much clearing up other people's messes."
Advance has trained police to adapt a more formal approach to their handling of domestic violence incidents. All officers carry cards which reminds them of practice at the scene - protecting the victim and children, taking photographs of the scene and a statement from the victim. The victim is then handed a card with the telephone number of Advance.
A domestic violence court was launched in the West London magistrates court in October last year. It is the first in the country to hear all domestic violence cases from first hearings to trials, with cases heard every Thursday.
Jennifer says the police were never away from her door. "The police weren't that sympathetic as they thought I was mental. I thought I wouldn't be believed - he always said I was mad."
For Jennifer the violence began after one evening in the pub, when her partner accused her of looking at other men and became jealous and obsessive.
Once, she was sitting at home watching Coronation Street and he hit her across the face."The final straw was when he kicked all my teeth out and damaged me so that I needed to have a hysterectomy because I was haemorrhaging from down below, which he had damaged with objects."
He wouldn't let her see her daughter or grandchildren. He told the neighbours she was mentally ill and convinced her they had turned against her. "Now I realise that he was evil. He stopped me going to church because he claimed I was having an affair with the priest. I became too scared to go out of the house and I was living on baked beans which were brought by people from the church."
One Christmas morning, when it was pouring with rain, she fled with her dog. "I sat on a park bench in the rain and I was petrified of going home," she says.
She says when she watched the domestic violence storyline in EastEnders, she had terrible flashbacks. She also suffers flashbacks if she smells alcohol, as it reminds her of her former partner.
Jennifer has severe post traumatic stress disorder. "I will be on medication for the rest of my life," she says. "I am not the same person. People used to say I had lovely teeth, but now they have all gone. He took a knife to my face, and I have got scars from the burns on my back."
She refuses to move from her flat. Why should she? It is her home. "I refuse to be a prisoner," she adds. "I threw everything out of my flat that reminded me of him."
"I feel very strongly that if women are experiencing domestic violence that they should tell their GP," she adds. "Even if they can't say it, just pass them a note."
Jennifer is now able to leave her flat, and relishes her new freedom. The turning point came when she travelled by tube to Covent Garden and sat with a coffee, watching the world go by. She sent a postcard to Advance because she felt free.
"I do not think I would have been here if it had not been for Bear and Advance," she adds. "I would certainly not have been able to go to court and I would have been in a graveyard."
The facts
· Fewer than 35% of violent attacks in the home are reported to the police
· Two women a week are killed by a male partner or former partner
· Nearly half of all murder victims are killed by a partner or former partner
