More women looking for help from abuse helpline
USE of Refuge’s national domestic abuse helpline more than doubled overnight after the charity reported a rise in women seeking help during the coronavirus outbreak.
The charity said earlier this week that it had experienced a 25% rise in the number of women contacting the 0808 2000 247 helpline since the UK entered lockdown measures.
After this was widely reported, calls and messages increased by 120% overnight.
Experts have repeatedly warned that they expect domestic violence to rise while the UK copes with the Covid-19 outbreak.
But Refuge cautioned that the lockdown itself should not be seen as a cause or reason for abuse.
Abusive behaviour happens all year round but may be exacerbated by abusers using isolation as a tool of control, it said.
Women who are unable to call the hotline can seek help via an online webform, the charity added.
Refuge chief executive Sandra Horley said: “This is an enormous increase which underscores what we already know - domestic abuse is a scourge on society and must be addressed.
“Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales. Domestic abuse is a crime and it must be addressed.
“We know that some forms of abuse are not as widely recognised as others. Domestic abuse is not just physical violence - it can be misuse of technology, economic abuse and coercive control.
“We hope that women seeing our public communications will feel reassured and supported and recognise that what they are experiencing is against the law and not acceptable.”
Natasha Saunders, a domestic abuse survivor who accessed the Helpline, said living with her ex was “like being inside a prison”.
She said: “I can’t imagine being in this lockdown with him. Home was not a safe place for me - and it’s not a safe place for thousands of women living with abusive partners.
“I understand the panic, fear and claustrophobia these women must be feeling at the moment, but help and support is out there.”
The Law Society of England and Wales said the figures were “deeply concerning and are compounded by a lack of physical access to the courts”.
THE Government has urged people to stay home over Easter as police warned they were ready to take action against those who flouted the coronavirus lockdown rules.
The message comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson was last night moved from intensive care back to the ward at St Thomas’ Hospital.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was still too soon for ministers to begin lifting the strict social distancing rules introduced last month.
Mr Raab – who had been deputising for Mr Johnson while he was in intensive care – said they could not begin to start looking again at the measures until the end of next week.
His warning came amid fears that with fine weather forecast for the bank holiday weekend, crowds will again flock to beaches and beauty spots in defiance of the rules.
Earlier Downing Street offered the Government’s “full backing” to police forces seeking to enforce the restrictions over the holiday period.
The warning came as the latest official figures showed the number of hospital patients in the UK who had died after testing positive for Covid-19 had risen to 7,978 as of 5pm on Wednesday – an increase of 881 on the previous day.
At the daily No 10 press conference, Mr Raab acknowledged that it was hard for people hoping to go out and be with their families over Easter, but he urged them to show restraint amid signs the measures were having an impact.
“Unfortunately right now we just can’t do those sorts of things and I am really sorry about that,” he said.
“It’s been almost three weeks and we’re starting to see the impact of the sacrifices we’ve all made.
“But the deaths are still rising and we haven’t yet reached the peak of the virus. So it’s still too early to lift the measures that we put in place. We must stick to the plan and we must continue to be guided by the science.”
Mr Raab was speaking after chairing a meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee