Family of Alice Ruggles launch trust in fun day
MUM SAYS: ‘ALICE WOULD HAVE LOVED THIS’
Reporter THE family of Alice Ruggles have returned to the North East as they look to build a lasting legacy in tribute to their daughter.
Mum Sue Hills, dad Clive Ruggles and Alice’s older brother Nick Ruggles were in Gateshead for a family fun day to launch the Alice Ruggles Trust, which aims to raise awareness of stalking.
Last October, 24-year-old Alice was brutally murdered in her Gateshead home by her ex-boyfriend Trimaan Dhillon following an intense harassment.
Now, 10 months on, Sue said she still struggles every day to come to terms with the loss of her daughter. campaign of
“I thought things would get better but I don’t think they ever will, you just learn to cope with things better,” she said.
“Every morning I wake up and there’s three seconds when I forget it has happened, then I remember Alice is gone, Alice is dead and I almost can’t believe it.
“I remember I can never see her or talk to her again and there’s that devastation.”
Dhillon, known as Harry, was a lance corporal, and to the outside world he was a hero who served in Afghanistan.
Sue and her husband Clive met Dhillon on several occasions and even holidayed with him and Alice in Cornwall.
She said: “He seemed like a perfectly nice guy, we didn’t dislike him – but we didn’t particularly like him – but never did we think this is someone who would hurt Alice. He would tell us how much he loved her.”
Dhillon denied Alice’s murder and remained emotionless throughout the trial.
Sue added: “I don’t understand why he hasn’t shown any remorse or any sadness that Alice is dead. Why isn’t he sad that she is dead? I don’t understand how anyone can do such a horrendous thing. He is a really bad person.”
Alice grew up in Leicestershire where her parents still live.
She studied at Northumbria University and stayed in the North East following graduation, going on to work at Sky, in Newcastle.
Despite their daughter’s tragic end the family were happy to return to the region to launch the Trust.
Sue said: “We never met Trimaan here, all our memories in the North East are happy ones and I feel closer to her here.
“Alice was just such a fun loving person.
“Everyone remembers her as the life and soul, always smiling and joking that’s why this family fun day is so perfect. She would have loved it.”
Dhillon’s controlling behaviour left Alice a shadow of her former self, and she sought help from Northumbria Police but she felt ‘palmed off’ by the response.
However, Alice’s family believe her case is not isolated and a recent report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) revealed stalking victims are being let down by every single police force in England.
Sue said: “We can’t lay the blame on the individual police officers who dealt with the case, it is a much wider issue. Police have been brilliant with us. “I am interested to see what the IPCC says and we are hopeful that changes are made. “I don’t want to knock the police, it is really important they learn lessons on how to deal with stalking.” Dhillon was jailed for 22 years for Alice’s murder. Sue said she wishes he received a harsher sentence but family feel “lucky” that he was brought to justice. Alice’s brother Nick will lobby technology giants to deal more effectively with online stalking and harassment in the Trust’s name.
The dad-of-one has had to deal with the heartbreaking fact his sister won’t see her niece, four-yearold Rosie Ruggles, grow up.
“It is an impossible thing to explain to a child,” he said.
“The technology companies already have the algorithms, they know when people are being stalked and repeatedly contacted and they should be highlighting the dangers to the victims.”
One person who saw first hand the lengths Dhillon went to in order to harass and contact Alice was her flatmate Maxine McGill. The 28-year-old is involved with the Alice Ruggles trust and is determined to raise awareness of stalking.
She said: “It was almost hourly the contact, he would send letters to the house, showed up at the door, messaged her constantly. I thought he was false, he was creepy, overly polite and manipulative but I never thought he was capable of that. As a human being you never think another human being would do something like that.
“Alice made a difference to people’s lives and we want to make a difference in her name, if we help just one person who is being stalked that’s enough.”
I thought things would get better but I don’t think they ever will, you just learn to cope with things better Alice’s mum Sue Hills