‘I survived domestic abuse – now I help police work with victims’

When domestic abuse survivor Fran Murphy reported her perpetrator’s offending to police, she felt she was not properly supported. Now she draws on her experiences to improve the way officers interact with victims.

“I was absolutely petrified.”

Fran’s voice lowers as she relives the moment she fled her abuser.

“I just felt helpless, a shell of myself. Looking back now, I probably wasn’t too far away from him killing me,” she says.

“I’d never want anybody to go through that, it drives me.”

Fran, 45, says the way she was treated when she tried to call for help left her feeling “voiceless”.

She says: “I contacted police many, many times, even my neighbours contacted them.

“The final time, they came out, but I wasn’t treated like a victim.”

Fran says her perpertrator was assigned an offender management officer “because he was deemed to be so dangerous, but I was given absolutely no support whatsoever”.

“The violence got worse and worse and worse,” she says. “When you’re involved in that situation, it is like you are screaming, but nothing is coming out.”

Fran found fortitude through the Leeds Domestic Violence Service and works with its Abuse Voices project.

She hopes the project, commissioned by Leeds City Council and backed by West Yorkshire Police, can “drive change”.

Project participants share their experiences with police officers as part of their training.

Project manager Nicola Marlow remembers the anticipation ahead of the group’s first meeting.

“I think there was nervousness from both sides,” she says.

“When victim-survivors shared their experiences, which in some cases were not very positive, the police openly discussed how things could have been done differently.

“Within a week of us talking to them, they told us they were making internal departmental changes so there was better communication for victims.”

The offender management team now works directly with specialist domestic abuse officers.

The use of Clare’s Law, which lets people know if their partner has any previous history of abuse, has increased by 700%.

Remanding in custody after an offender has been charged has increased by 40%.

Det Supt Heather Wilson says: “I can’t emphasise enough how useful, insightful and humbling the session with the Voices project was.

“The lived experience of the group reminds us how important it is that we continue to drive change, make improvements and constantly put victims at the centre of all our actions.

“I can sincerely say that by sharing their experience, they have helped to ensure future victims do not go through the same challenges and additional trauma.”

Fran describes the project as “monumental”, saying: “For a long time after the abuse, I was really angry.

“I was just left with this displaced anger that I didn’t know what to do with because I just couldn’t believe this situation had been allowed to carry on, when it was quite obvious what was happening.

“To say that police have absolutely listened, they have let me share my voice, for me to be heard is absolutely huge for me.”

Empowered by her experience, Fran is now determined to improve life for others.

“I still meet victims who are in this cycle of abuse and they do not know where to turn,” she says.

“I felt so desperate, I felt like I was drowning but I think knowing there are people out there fighting for change can only be a good thing. I don’t want anything I’ve been through to ever be in vain.

“It breaks my heart to think of anybody going through what I did, but I just want to be able to say with utter confidence that there is help out there. Nobody needs to sit and suffer.”

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