Breaking the Silence on Domestic Abuse

Behind Closed Doors (BAFTA AWARD NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY) | Real Stories

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

"Behind Closed Doors" is a BAFTA Award-nominated documentary by Real Stories that sheds light on the grim realities of domestic abuse, following the harrowing experiences of three courageous women. These women decide to break the silence that envelops their suffering by allowing cameras to capture their journey from their initial call to the police through to the court trials. The documentary details the emotional and physical trauma inflicted upon them, the courage it takes to seek justice, and the systemic challenges they face in bringing their abusers to account.

Highlights

Sabrina bravely reports her abusive partner despite the immense physical and emotional challenges she faces 📞.
Helen's struggle with the legal system showcases the difficulties in securing protection and justice ⚔️.
Gemma's determination to press charges against her ex-boyfriend, despite fears for her and her children's safety, is truly inspiring 🌟.
The documentary showcases the police's role and challenges in handling domestic abuse cases 👮‍♀️.
Viewers gain an intimate look at the personal turmoil and resilience of the victims as they confront their abusers 💔.

Key Takeaways

The documentary emphasizes the importance of speaking out against domestic abuse and seeking justice 🎤.
Victims often face systemic challenges, including legal hurdles and emotional manipulation by their abusers ⚖️.
Sabrina, Gemma, and Helen's stories highlight the repeating cycle of violence and the battle to break free 🔄.
It's a stark reminder of the danger that victims face even when they leave their abusive partners 🚷.
The documentary gives a voice to the victims, showing both their vulnerability and strength 💪.

Overview

"Behind Closed Doors" delves into the lives of three women who've endured severe domestic abuse, capturing their fight for justice and the systemic barriers they encounter along the way. Sabrina, Gemma, and Helen open up about their traumatic experiences, sharing the emotional scars inflicted by their partners and the fire it ignites within them to seek justice.

The film follows Sabrina, a woman courageously breaking free from a violent relationship, as she navigates the complexities of the police and legal systems. Her journey is marked by resilience and an unwavering commitment to ensuring her abuser is held accountable. Through her story, the film sheds light on the cyclical nature of domestic abuse and the mental strength required to escape it.

Helen's and Gemma's stories underscore the daunting challenges victims face within the justice system. Both women deal with the fear and retaliation from their exes while striving for a sense of security and justice. This documentary not only illuminates the struggles but also the bravery of these women as they stand up against their abusers, making an emotional plea for change.

Chapters

00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The introduction sets the stage by highlighting a violent crime that deeply impacts home and family. Despite its severity, victims often hesitate to press charges. The film documents the experiences of TS Valley police over a 12-month period to explore this issue.
00:30 - 05:00: Three Extraordinary Women The chapter delves into the stories of three extraordinary women who broke the silence around domestic abuse from the moment they contacted authorities up to the trial and beyond.
05:00 - 15:00: Sabrina's Story This chapter introduces us to the beginning of a critical incident on April 20, 2015. A 999 emergency call is made to the TS Valley police, sparking the events to unfold. The chapter sets the scene with an element of suspense and urgency, inviting the reader to delve into Sabrina's story and the developments that follow from this initial call.
15:00 - 24:00: Helen's Story The chapter, 'Helen's Story,' begins with a panic-stricken call to the police seeking urgent help. It captures the chaotic and tense atmosphere as the caller struggles to convey their distress amidst shouting in the background. The urgency is underscored by the call being abruptly cut off after two minutes, prompting the police to trace the call's location immediately. Within seven minutes, officers reach the scene, only to be met with confusion and denials. One individual claims innocence while another is under suspicion for assault. Despite the apparent injuries of a female present, there are no explanations available, leaving the situation shrouded in uncertainty yet hopeful for resolution.
24:00 - 35:00: Gemma's Story This chapter, titled 'Gemma's Story,' describes a tense situation involving Sabrina, who has endured a prolonged assault by her partner, Paul Hopkins. Despite her fear, Sabrina successfully contacts the police, resulting in law enforcement and medical personnel being dispatched to assist her. The police ensure Paul is taken away, and they encourage Sabrina to provide a statement regarding the assault, although she is understandably reluctant due to her fear.
35:00 - 46:30: Helen's Escalation The chapter 'Helen's Escalation' details a harrowing scene where Helen describes being brutally assaulted and physically abused. She recounts being arrested and taken into custody, but focuses on the violent incident in a bedroom where her face was smashed, leaving blood stains and handprints as evidence of her struggle to escape the attack.
46:30 - 55:00: Sabrina's Reflections In the chapter titled 'Sabrina's Reflections,' the narrative focuses on Sabrina's harrowing experience of domestic violence at the hands of Paul, her partner of five years. The chapter describes a particularly brutal attack where Sabrina faces the worst violence she has ever suffered from Paul. It began with minor physical assaults, escalating into severe abuse where Paul violently attacks Sabrina by throwing a chair at her and threatening her further with a speaker. This chapter underscores the cycle of escalating violence in their relationship.
55:00 - 66:30: Gemma's Court Case This chapter recounts a harrowing experience involving Gemma during a court case. The situation escalates when an individual, driven by intense hatred, threatens Gemma with violence by holding an object above his head, prepared to cause harm. Despite Gemma's pleas and expressions of extreme fear, the aggressor seems unrelenting and indifferent to the potential consequences of his actions. The tension reaches a critical moment, with Gemma genuinely fearing for her life, convinced that death was imminent if not for the timely intervention of the police. The chapter captures the gravity of the situation and Gemma's overwhelming sense of vulnerability and dread.
66:30 - 90:00: Conclusion The chapter titled 'Conclusion' encapsulates the narrator's harrowing experience of coming to terms with their own mortality during a brutal attack. The narrator describes a shift from fear to a resigned acceptance of death, wishing for the pain to end even if it meant dying. It highlights feelings of hopelessness and desperation, illustrating a profound moment where the narrator pleads for the ordeal to conclude, feeling that death might be a merciful release from suffering.

Behind Closed Doors (BAFTA AWARD NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY) | Real Stories Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 let me in let me in let me in there is a violent crime that strikes the very heart of home and family but it's an offense where victims are rarely willing to press charges this is so awful working with TS Valley police for over 12 months this film follows three
00:30 - 01:00 extraordinary women from the moment they call the police all the way to trial and Beyond I can still feel his hand round my throat I can still see his face and feel his breath taste that metallic taste at the back of your throat from the blood they have waved their right to anonymity to break the wall of silence and fear that surrounds domestic abuse imagine if I did nothing and he did it again to somebody else you know he is a danger to women
01:00 - 01:30 [Music] it's April the 20th 2015 a 999 call comes into TS Valley police go ahead call to the police it hello there on the line please you love
01:30 - 02:00 be hon you can help me please all the police can hear is shouting don't getting my offic out there straight away the call cuts off after 2 minutes panicky on the phone but the police have tracked the position of the mobile phone and officers arrive 7 minutes later I haven't done anything wrong other in suspicion of assault Something's Happened Here Yeah the females get injuries that I can't account for at this time well it can be sorted out can
02:00 - 02:30 it I'll go and stand outside you talk to her that's enough suspicion for me to erasing suspicion of assault what's bring there is it Sabrina managed to call the police and throw the phone under her bed Sabrina we've got an ambulance coming to see you she says she's been beaten by her partner Paul Hopkins for over 6 hours are you going to be happy to give statement about what's happened today I don't want to I don't I appreciate that you're scared but we've taken him away now Paul is
02:30 - 03:00 arrested and taken into [Laughter] custody this is where he's had me on the bed and he's smashed my face in that's all my blood there there's a hand print where I've tried to drag myself away from him so and there's a few spots of it on the bottom bit there too there's blood all up here too
03:00 - 03:30 look that's all my blood sprayed up the wall as you can see the spots everywhere really Sabrina and Paul have been together for 5 years Paul has been violent before but this is the worst attack Sabrina has ever suffered it started as just a couple of little slaps in the face and then it just escalated he threw that chair on my head and then he picked up the speaker under it held
03:30 - 04:00 it above his head and was going to throw it on my head when I screamed at him please stop you're going to kill me he said I don't care I don't care cuz I hate you I've never been so frightened I honestly thought I was going to die I thought he was going to kill me sorry if the police hadn't to come when they did he would have done he was still going then
04:00 - 04:30 I can't even begin to explain what it felt like it's almost resign resigning yourself to the fact that this is it I'm going to die I'm going to die and then I got to the point while he was beating me where it was like please this next punch just let it be the last one so it does kill me and it stops you won't feel it anymore
04:30 - 05:00 because the attack was so violent Sabrina's case is immediately referred to the domestic abuse unit at TS Valley police my name is Sam I work with the domestic abuse unit I'm just giving you a call to see how you are Paul Hopkins is interviewed later the same day by DC Sam Hunter an officer specially trained to deal with domestic abuse can you tell me what led up to you being arrested she went out to meet a
05:00 - 05:30 dealer sometime last I think it was the night time because it was dark obviously I'm lost track of time been there for that long and came back in that state and what state are you talking about when you say her face was really badly bruised and she her nose was bleeding it kept continued to bleed what did her eyes look like one of them she couldn't see out of him did she explain what happened to her just said he gave her a good iding cuz she couldn't pay him
05:30 - 06:00 who's he I can't blame him you're basically saying you know who's given her this good hiding aren't you yeah and you're not going to tell us I can't his defense is that she left to go meet the drug dealer and because she couldn't pay him he's given her a good beating but if that's the case then there would have been blood at least going up the steps cuz all the blood is around by the the bed area and at the
06:00 - 06:30 walls and there's no blood outside so I think that's very telling Sabrina is obviously saying that you those injuries to her and she goes on to say that the threats started to get worse and that you ended up slapping her and punching her did you do that no never touched her you never touched her only to cuddle her but you know not violently they put the cuffs on me and said we're arresting you on suspicion of assault and she screamed at him as they
06:30 - 07:00 were leading me down the steps he was still screaming don't he hasn't done anything it's not him is Paul coming with us yeah Paul's coming with you suspicion of assault by me can that go with him it's just to I don't hear her screaming saying he's done nothing wrong you tell us what's happened so it is really interesting and
07:00 - 07:30 and if he goes not guilty this I will insist on being played through the trial cuz it's just so yeah it's a really good piece of evidence I think the police will give the crown prosecution service their evidence but they may only be able to charge Paul if Sabrina is willing to go to court Sabrina's already known to the team she has a history of retracting her police statements the last time was 4 months ago after Paul had allegedly
07:30 - 08:00 assaulted her with domestic abuse we do get to see some of the same people time and time again 43% of victims will be a repeat victim and when I say that it means they will suffer another crime within a year of having reported a crime they may be being abused by the same partner time and time again um and we will work very hard to break that the domestic abuse unit don't just deal with
08:00 - 08:30 physical violence a new case of harassment has just come in from a woman who is fleeing her partner hi bever it's Charlotte Parker from hello um I'm just phoning um with a bit of an update for our case so Lawrence bed Helen and when he started badmouthing her father she um decided that she was going to call the police and tell them where she W he was Helen has only been in the temps
08:30 - 09:00 Valley area for a few weeks she met her partner Lawrence 10 years ago I met him through a friend of ours and just the minute I walked through the door I just thought I just knew we spent a year getting to know each other we had great fun we'd go out places we'd stay in we'd have meals together we spent every single day
09:00 - 09:30 together Lawrence moved in with Helen and her 5-year-old son in 2008 he took Joseph on like his own nothing was ever a problem I lost my mom he looked after us my dad came and stayed with us that you know because he was in a bad way I mean he really was my rock but a few months after they started living together Helen realized that Lawrence was becoming more controlling it was a gradual kind of
09:30 - 10:00 just a little bit more a little bit more a little bit more and on my feet are aching could you rub my feet and then it would be why are you not rubbing my feet tonight and you haven't rubbed my feet so get on with it that's when the kind of the mental abuse started kicking in and the verbal abuse um and then I don't actually remember the very first time that he hit me I don't particularly recall what it was that said it off I think he backs
10:00 - 10:30 slapped me across the face um and I think I I mean I was just in so much shock I couldn't believe that he'd actually done that to me he was so nice 90% of the time but so absolutely vile 10% of the time when they put my Mom's ashes up at the graveyard he turned around and punched me in the face so I couldn't go to that because I had a black eye so I had to
10:30 - 11:00 make an excuse and say to my dad I couldn't cope with seeing her ashes [Music] go in January 2015 the violence escalated the family was celebrating New Year on the Shetland Islands that night night Lawrence
11:00 - 11:30 viciously attacked Helen her 12-year-old son witnessed the attack and then managed to get out and run for help Lawrence Fe was arrested and remanded in custody from prison Lawrence wrote letters to Helen begging for forgiveness after a week he was released on bail and returned to the family
11:30 - 12:00 home he came straight to Lincolnshire and gave me the I'm going to a counselor I'm not going to drink anymore I'm going to change blah and like an idiot I believed him so I took him back 6 weeks ago Helen decided to leave Lawrence for good she's taken her son to the only safe place she knows her
12:00 - 12:30 dad's but Lawrence has continued to send her abusive texts which she's reported to TS Valley police Helen was having hundreds of texts and calls a day she said she didn't want the contact she'd asked him to stop um and also it was the nature of the content of the contact that he's threatening to harm her threatening to kill her so more offenses might happen we run the risk of him finding her sting her again or
12:30 - 13:00 [Music] Worse the day after Sabrina's 6-hour assault her partner Paul Hopkins has been charged with gbh and remanded in custody I've never seen such bad bruising the extent of Sabrina's injuries means she's immediately referred to a specialist pan she we discussed today is confidential police
13:00 - 13:30 Social Services schools and Charities come together to protect people who are at the highest risk a threat of imminent danger or even death can I just update you that I believe Nikki is an independent advisor for high-risk victims she'll support Sabrina to make sure she's safe and will be there alongside her if the case goes to trial hi yeah right yeah so B and Paul have been in a relationship for about 5
13:30 - 14:00 years um four of those years he has been quite um violent towards her um but he's also been quite emotionally mentally and financially abusive have you got bruises on your arms yeah yeah have a look Sabrina has reported to the police in the past unfortunately she hasn't supported police but we got to remember these people love the perpetrators him not being here is weird
14:00 - 14:30 but at the same time it's not I can't get used to it cuz my mind still remembers the nice part of him and then there's the other half of him jacn Hyde yeah and I suppose if you like I'm grieving the loss of the nice him yeah yeah of course you are the other thing I wanted to speak to you about was he's on remand as you know if he's out on bail then we're going to have to think about Refuge or if you've got any family and friends you can go and stay with all right y okay if he pleads not guilty
14:30 - 15:00 then he's going to put you through a trial I'm afraid so that means you're going to have to go to court and you're going to have to give evidence in court we're possibly talking about 6 months if it goes to trial right all right but I don't want you to start worrying about court cuz we don't know all right we just don't [Music] know it's 5 months since Helen's attack in Scotland which was so vicious that
15:00 - 15:30 she is now judged to be at high risk her partner Lawrence has pleaded guilty to what the prosecution described as a particularly violent domestic assault during which she was hit with a PlayStation console chunks of her hair were pulled out and the imprint of a shoe was made around her right eye the judge fined Lawrence 1700 but did not send him to prison [Music]
15:30 - 16:00 I'm furious because he's got away with completely and utterly kicking me to bits I mean he literally he could have killed me and he's walked away and he's back out on the strength he's just gone unpunished completely I just I just I can't see him ever being bought to Justice DC Charlotte Parker has been investigating the texts and voice messages Lawrence has continued to send
16:00 - 16:30 Helen Lawrence has been picked up by police but in interview he's made claims which if they stand up could seriously undermine the new harassment case uh you don't have to say anything but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when question something which you L to rign in court anything you did say may be given evidence all right are you happy with that understanding anything you want me to go over for that no no that's fine moving on then so you've been arrested for when Lawrence was arrested did he said that he had been
16:30 - 17:00 spending time with Helen over the Easter period last month and they've been going out for family dinners as a police officer we're here to investigate and it's Our obligation to look into that allegation cuz if we find out that Helen and Lawrence have been meeting up and having lunches and staying in hotels together then it could completely close the case down if it's found to be true
17:00 - 17:30 Lawrence has given police the name of a local pub where he says he went with Helen if Charlotte finds CCTV evidence supporting his claims then it suggests Helen has not been honest with the police and will make it very difficult to get a conviction for harassment
17:30 - 18:00 them so at 1325 they're coming in all three of them with a family so this is Lawrence coming through the door followed by Joseph and followed by Helen doesn't look like a girl under distress does it
18:00 - 18:30 there's an element of disappointment that you see that you're probably not going to get a prosecution um and you now got to go and find out the V victim's reasons as to why why she's done it we don't know until we go and speak to her we're going to have to challenge her on what we found and see what she's got to say when Lawrence was arrested obviously
18:30 - 19:00 he's interviewed and he gets to give an account as to yeah what he's got to say about it and he says that he came to stay down here yes he came down here he told me he was here he sent me a picture of him being here but did you see him when he was I didn't see him when he was here he told me he was here but did you meet out with him no
19:00 - 19:30 okay so lawen said that you guys met up and I have to check that out of course so we have been today to check it out and um on the 5th of last month so Easter Sunday I saw it yeah I did what did you do we went for a mail
19:30 - 20:00 for Joseph I saw him so why did you guys meet up he wanted to give Joseph an e Easter present why did you do it I don't know I don't know Charlotte because at the moment we're trying to investigate a harassment and you've been throwning each other and texting each other and meeting up for dinners and I don't know what to
20:00 - 20:30 say because he gets me tell you tell me about that then why have you been in contact with him only you can tell me I don't know I don't know how you're feeling what you're thinking I I I just don't know I don't know he kept telling me he's going to kill himself um I don't know he's a bit like a drug
20:30 - 21:00 I was that with him sh I hate him but I can't he's like a drug I won't never have any more contact with him ever again Helen's contact with Lawrence will make it hard for the police to pursue a
21:00 - 21:30 case of harassment whatever happens to the case Helen is still being supported by Karen from a local domestic abuse charity it's quite common for victims and perpetrators to carry on meeting each other or get back together because they're emotionally attached to that person but now she has mail with him she realizes what he was doing and she realizes that it was just another itic to try and get her back with him and get
21:30 - 22:00 his own way again and to use her son really as a tool to get to her promising gifts and Helen was feeling it quite a low when she met up with him so we got the bully yeah he shouts smashes things and Sals and the Jailer yeah yeah definitely puts me down in fact I've got textes that say I'm fat ugly he's threatened to hurt and kill me cries yes I've had that I've had him say he loves me I've had
22:00 - 22:30 him say he threatens to kill himself I've had plenty of that he's going to report me to Social Services and the DSs Ellen had been told that she was stupid that she was ugly that she was no good that nobody would believe her Etc every day for 10 years and that's hard for people to understand cuz why do they go back and they go back because they're really kind of testing the waters if you like so testing if they can manage on their own um and when they go back
22:30 - 23:00 they're still hoping that things are going to change and that things are going to get better and maybe this is a bit of a warning sign to the other person that things need to change but the reality is is that it doesn't change and often it gets [Music] worse in the last year around one in 12 women have reported being victims of domestic abuse but on average they will endure 50
23:00 - 23:30 incidents of abuse before getting help often they'll only call 999 when there's an immediate threat to life let me in here let me in let me in get out let me [Music] in police emergency hello I just let our
23:30 - 24:00 neighor come across she's complaining that someone in her house just beat the [ __ ] out of her okay we're going to get help to what injuries does she have please she could have broken ribs cuz she's having trouble breathing okay problem going I get help to you I want just St the phone from you all okay Gemma has been attacked by her ex-boyfriend who she finished with 4 months ago Dwayne Mason is arrested later the same night with blood all over his clothes this interview is now being
24:00 - 24:30 recorded and it may be given in evidence of your Cas is brought to trial do you understand everything so [Music] far I came in through my bedroom door and as as I've turned around he's just headbutted me and I fell on my bed the blood was just dripping off my face and
24:30 - 25:00 I turned around to him obviously not expecting it to carry on and from that point it was just a shower of blows really punching me dragging me holding my head throwing me down on the bed strangling me it was almost like he was waiting for me to lose Consciousness and then when I come around would carry on Gemma only had a brief relationship with Dwayne since she broke up with him he's been harassing her with phone calls
25:00 - 25:30 and texts and turning up at her house at all hours okay this interview is now being recorded what happened in the bedroom Dwayne what did you do to Gemma in the bedroom Gemma remembers that you just kept punching her and punching her and then you were strangling her pinning her down strangling her so she couldn't breathe and she was fighting for her life cuz
25:30 - 26:00 she thought she was going to die crying now yeah are you so distressed because you do care about her and she's injured or so distressed because you caus those injuries her injuries she had some serious cuts to her face I understand she had broken ribs punctured lung I mean how is she mentally physically how
26:00 - 26:30 is she at the moment she's she's been reasonably good she found it really difficult first but I'm going to touch base with her today and see how she is okay what else did we get in respect of connecting him to her but there was clothing with blood on it there was earring blood well they took the earring from him and he was wearing that at the time thinking cuz that'll be a really compelling piece of evidence which will tie him cuz at one point she describes him having her blood all over his face
26:30 - 27:00 yeah okay and then as far as her wanted to go to court how do she feel about that uh she's sort of yeah she's up for it on board at the moment yeah obviously what I'm really pleased about is the fact that I think she's going to make very good witness um and he's got a lot of questions to answer he has and he's been on the radar for a long time with different with different women and and but you know it's always been the same that they've always been too frightened to do much about it so
27:00 - 27:30 yeah it's always a great thing when victims can say look you know I've had enough and yeah I'm going to make a stand and I'm not going to tolerate you doing this to me anymore so CU very often people that have been in abusive relationships the the nature of the relationship is that they're always blamed for the bad things that happen they feel very responsible very often for what's happened and it is very hard for them to talk to the police or other agencies and
27:30 - 28:00 then to take you know prosecutions forward Dwayne Mason is remanded in custody and pleads not guilty jit is prepared to go to court but the trial may be months away the police want her to record her victim personal statement or VPS while events are still fresh in her mind I've got constant misca threatening messages I think this day we topped up 190 plus calls and then it would go on
28:00 - 28:30 to messages he messages me you don't want to be with me get ready for how I will go to your work your college your house just to make scenes I will slit your tires every night poison your dogs you think you can leave me you leave me someone leaves you how about that yeah I'm sick so what all these injuries done by him it's 3 months on from Sabrina's 6-hour beating her partner Paul is still on remand and has pleaded not guilty to to gbh she too is prepared to go to court
28:30 - 29:00 and although the jury will be shown photographs of her injuries she must also complete her personal statement I can remember it smashed me in the nose and it was bleeding that bad that it wasn't running out of my nose quick enough and I can remember him strangling me on the bed and coughing and it going in his face and that's the bit I can't get out of my head I had bruise into the brain cut eyebrows where he had headbutted me me and then obviously
29:00 - 29:30 severe bruising to the neck when he was stamping on me the only reason they think I didn't end up with internal bleeding or more damaged to me was because he wasn't wearing shoes he was barefooted on that night he beat me naked and he'd literally beat me to a PP I'm not sleeping properly and I don't eat properly he basically lies cheats manipulates you know abuses and then effectively beats up just to get his own way and he never takes responsibility
29:30 - 30:00 for anything that's what shows more and more he thinks he can just do what he [Music] wants because I've been under the impression from him that you know people don't really give a [ __ ] anymore you know people just keep themselves themselves they don't get involved in other people's arguments anymore made me think that there was there is no help out there nobody cares nobody wants to know but that's not how it is at all I have not BR one one person that's gone wow you probably deserved
30:00 - 30:30 it I found myself looking at his pictures and getting angry and thinking why why why why would you do this why would you tear something apart that could have been so so nice so wonderful so good why why did you do that to me why did you do that to us why did you tear my heart out and why in turn are you tearing yours out can't you see any of this and then I I get Ang then I cry then I stop crying and get angry again
30:30 - 31:00 it's all a bit strange and then I have a fagon calm down but there's been a setback with the case the crown prosecution service feel they will not successfully get a conviction for Grievous bodily harm and are looking to reduce the charge to actual bodily harm unfortunately her injuries don't reflect to gbh it has to be either breaking of the skin so like stab wound or um skull fractures or
31:00 - 31:30 broken arms and legs and it's not any of that and she had this awful beating and she looks renous yet she's very lucky and she only really had a fractured rib always amazes me that somebody could be beaten senseless and because they don't have really serious injuries it can still be an abh I I do wonder about that sometimes but the CPS lady ensures me that that it's the worst case of abh she's ever
31:30 - 32:00 seen and she's put that all over the file and with our VPS from Spina we hope that he would be able to get the maximum penalty for an [Music] abh it's 3 and a half months since Helen and her son fled to her dad's because she met up with Lawrence the harassment charge against him has been dropped Helen is still trying to keep away from
32:00 - 32:30 him but he is persistently phoning texting and contacting her on social media so the police have issued her with a 24-hour Panic alarm and her address is flagged as top priority he's very very angry with me and once he flips he can't control himself so you know there's no reason there would be no reason for him to be able to control himself you know if he saw me or if he came looking for me to protect herself and her son she's
32:30 - 33:00 applied for a non-molestation order forbiding Lawrence from having any contact with her via text phone or social media face the but Lawrence ignores the order and is arrested a week later can you tell me why lawren is with us please yeah so uh at 6:00 this morning um he was arrested on suspicion of harassment and threats to kill lawence has sent in excess of nine
33:00 - 33:30 voicemails and several emails to his ex partner unwanted and a threatening nature saved messages you [ __ ] dir [ __ ] scap wait till I get older cuz when I get older I'm going to beat you inside out I'm going to come and get you I'm going to [ __ ] eat you I'm going to [ __ ] smash the [ __ ] living B so actually on the information the offic
33:30 - 34:00 passed to me your detention is authorized at this police station for the purpose of securing and preserving evidence and to obtain any further evidence from you by questioning do you understand that okay gentlemen would you mind taking Mr Fe down to cell number four please shoes of outside well I'll get you I'm going to rip your [ __ ] insides clean out I'm going to make you meet them you're [ __ ] you dirty little skanky [ __ ] po I'm going to beat you like a diry that you are you're [ __ ] I'm coming to
34:00 - 34:30 [ __ ] get you it makes my stomach turn when he says things like that you know I'm used to him saying those things and then me actually being attacked because he left me the voicemail messages you know he's going to be really cross with himself for slipping up like that if he gets bailed this time he will still still torment me but this time it would be
34:30 - 35:00 worse so I would be looking badly over my shoulder I would be very very concerned about mine and Jose's safety I don't understand because all I ever done was love him and I can't get in my head I don't understand why you would want to hurt somebody that's loved you not i' not done you any
35:00 - 35:30 wrong I didn't do him any wrong and yeah he still hurt me just don't get it after a night in the cell Lawrence is taken to the local magistrates Court as a police officer would' like to keep people locked up because it helps us keep people safe you know he he's got a proven track record of breaching
35:30 - 36:00 conditions or actually uh abusing victims or uh this particular victim whilst he's actually on bail it's not that we don't disagree with a decision by the magistrates court but it is their decision to make and they've made it hello is that Helen I'm just calling from domestic abuse team um it's just to ring you up and give you an update from the court result today where they've bailed him um okay but we've got some some conditions he's not allowed to contact you and that's directly or
36:00 - 36:30 indirectly so that if he gets somebody else to reap you or contact you on his behal BR your our [Music] condition for now gemma's attacker Dwayne is locked up up on raand but as the court date for Gemma draws nearer
36:30 - 37:00 she has to face the possibility that he may be found not guilty and released he won't be able to come near me will he or the kids not to contact you that's what I'm more worried about when I want to put that in there is I don't want I don't want my kids stuff to bump into him he's done the worst to me but I don't want the I don't want him to use my kids to to get to you gemma's kids weren't in the house when
37:00 - 37:30 the attack happened but they saw their mom in hospital immediately afterwards she's asked her specialist support worker Jackie to help her kids know how to keep themselves safe if Dwayne is released for a child no matter what age to witness domestic violence uh whether they see it firsthand or whether it's when they've gone to bed and they can just hear banging and crashing and screaming and arguing they don't know what they're going to wake up to in the morning so I've spoken to your mom
37:30 - 38:00 hopefully what's going to happen is we're going to apply for a restraining order which means he won't be allowed to contact you or come anywhere near the property okay if a restraining order isn't made this is why I'm going to do little bit of safety planning with you now so you know what to do in case you bump into in case any trouble starts so you have a mobile phone yeah but it doesn't really work it does work you just don't charge it no no I can't win people we can put if if if
38:00 - 38:30 he gets out of jail we can put some credit on there we make sure whenever you're not here you've got credit on your phone so if you've got a phone then you know if you if you're worried or you're scared then you can always phone the police that's what they're for you know what number to ring 9 correct well done top of the class say he approached and you felt that you couldn't call the police cuz it might cause more harm phone your mom or phone a friend or phone anybody and use a code word I think because you're an Arsenal fan if you phoned up a friend or anybody and
38:30 - 39:00 said I now support Spurs I reckon they're going to know that's not true and you need some help so they can just say okay where are you and then they can call the police for you if they need to or come and find you all right okay so lots of safety planning has been done in the house got the post box done the fence the locks if anybody knocks on the door don't just open the door look through the safety hole first if he did come to the property and if he did get in the best thing to do is find a room where you can lock yourself in is there
39:00 - 39:30 a room toilet toilet's very good you run into the toilet you lock the door and then you phone 999 all right M okay yeah is that fine have I waffled on enough yeah no W so you can go and play now thank you for your time young man awfully kind
39:30 - 40:00 Lawrence has been released from police custody Helen has decided it is time to clear out the house she shared with Lawrence in Lincolnshire she's going back with her dad a family friend and her son it's going to be a fresh start for me and Joseph and it's also it shows Joseph you know I'm serious I'm not going back he's been through a lot he's he's seen a
40:00 - 40:30 lot the other week he said to me it's my fault and I said no no no no no no way in this world Joseph would that ever be your fault it's his fault she has no idea where Lawrence is or whether he'll be at the house I'm nervous someone might turn up or anything like that I'm very very nervous I'm glad this for the last time
40:30 - 41:00 [Music] okay yeah is it everything to go or everything to [Music] go this is awful [Music]
41:00 - 41:30 okay put back on it's really silly it's the silly little things that we picked up and collected together I me it's just terrible
41:30 - 42:00 as a dad I feel gutty you don't bring him in his life to finish up like this do you all these years she's been telling me everything's wonderful great time having a good time everything's fine they look very happy together but you never know what happens behind closed door that old saying you never know I mean you see how nice it is in good
42:00 - 42:30 life they had beond the scenes terrible it was hard when you walk in you know and you think about good memories bad memories um but this really feels like closure now and I'm actually feeling really happy about driving away from here now and
42:30 - 43:00 that being the end of it cuz that'll be the end of any of my ties here and it feels really really good to know that I'm actually gone I'm very excited I'm really excited [Music]
43:00 - 43:30 6 months after she was assaulted Gemma has to go to defend her allegations against Dwayne Mason and take her place in the witness box the statement she originally gave to the police is played in court obviously realized the importance of telling the truth if you can tell me in
43:30 - 44:00 as much detail as possible exactly what happened I was woken up by banging just banging on the door hammering the door shouting hammering the door so as I've got into my bedroom I could turn around and he just headbutt me doing he just punched me he was dragging me around the room and he was just he just wouldn't stop really he the rooms covered in blood blood I remember thinking in my head like he's going to kill me
44:00 - 44:30 Gemma spends a full day being cross-examined the defense case now begins and is expected to last for the next 3 days I feel angry that he's made me have to go through all that there was part of the evidence that was our conversation on a phone and they had what I had sent to him but not what he had sent to me so the defense were kind of just making up as they went along oh will he must have
44:30 - 45:00 said something like this to you and I was saying to them that's not true so when they went on lunch luckily I'd kept the message on my phone and I give it to the police and they copied the message off my phone and showed so you could see obviously both sides of it um but I think imagine if I deleted that it's really hard knowing you're telling the truth and you're being told that you're lying
45:00 - 45:30 [Music] [Music] a month after Helen was granted a non-molestation order Lawrence Fe is arrested for breaching it for the second time okay and they're going to charge you with three counts of breaching a non- molestation order and by virtue of that breach you're also in breach of
45:30 - 46:00 your court bail conditions okay if I could just invite you to sign it's no admission of guilt it's just to acknowledge those charges and the laying of the information for the breach of Court B thank you are you okay am I all right mhm do I look all right you're staring at me are you okay is that against love no I'm just wondering if you're okay I don't even need to talk to you don't speak to me okay because of the nature of the the fact you breach your court bail conditions I have no choice but to put you before the court busing tomorrow
46:00 - 46:30 morning in interview he claims he has seen Helen yet [Music] again the phone rang and it was Lawrence and he was sobbing I mean really crying I can't even explain how badly he was crying he sounded awful and he said that he was going to hand himself in and he
46:30 - 47:00 put himself into the Travel Lodge in slow the next minute we're in Wickam District Council offices and he's he's he's saying I'm homeless Can you house me I've got nowhere to sleep I'm going to be on the streets and I'm thinking what like what's going on because you was meant to be handing yourself in now all of a sudden we doing housing and I was thinking oh my God and
47:00 - 47:30 I started to panic and then he looked at me and he said to me you are a coldhearted horrible [ __ ] he said look at you he said there's not even an emotion in you he said you really don't care he said you don't care you've not even shed a tear and then I realized at that very moment because there was no emotion I was sat there like I am now no emotion
47:30 - 48:00 whatsoever and I thought that's because I don't love you and I really don't Helen rang the police immediately and told them where Lawrence was today Lawrence is at the magistrates court facing three counts of breaching the non-molestation order yet again Helen is waiting to hear whether this time he will be remanded in custody yeah and we literally just got the update through about 10 minutes ago so
48:00 - 48:30 one of my team is going to be on the phone to her if they're not physically on the phone to her in the office at the moment and they've let him out again no I'm not that's why I wanted to ring you yeah that wasn't quite what I said I went oh for [ __ ] sake you know you sit there for hours and hours and hours and at 10 4 on a Friday afternoon and you get the phone call that says oh no the courts released him same conditions as before and you kind of go hang on a minute what the conditions that he's just breached the The only positive
48:30 - 49:00 thing at the moment I can take from this is that they've still gone with the Lincolnshire bail address so he should have left court and left the area because one of his conditions is not to be in barkshire I'm going to try and get somebody to go around this evening and and have that conversation and check that she's okay um well and more importantly check that he isn't there [Music]
49:00 - 49:30 come on dad they failed him and they don't know if he's still in the area or not no Hannah's just told me that so just just wait a minute cuz I've got a phoner back where is he walking is he free like literally free right this second where did somebody pick him up or is he just how I don't know what planet they're
49:30 - 50:00 on it seems that the more charges you get the more lenient the courts get you would have thought at least they would have tagged him so they could find out where he was at any time right you would have thought that because he's in imminent danger they would have escorted him to the station and made sure he bought his ticket and he got on the
50:00 - 50:30 train and then told someone the other end to check him getting off they've now put you at risk again the judge the judge has not has put you at risk is he you know I'm trying to be sensible here right and be nice but I'm saying to you as your dad he's put you at risk the judge has put you at rich now it makes a mockery of the whole
50:30 - 51:00 justice system doesn't it it's taken Sabrina's case almost 6 months to come to court today she will see Paul Hopkins for the first first time since the attack how you feeling
51:00 - 51:30 man strange bit of a weird mix of emotions like I said I'm happy that you know today's come he's going to get what's due but at the same time I do hope he's okay I'll be sad to see him go down for any length of time but at the same time I should be pleased as well and that's the bit I can't get my head round why would I be sad after what he did to me I don't know what to expect in the way of what he feels you know does he feel guilty is he just going guilty because he thinks it's going you know light a sentence or what I just don't
51:30 - 52:00 know Paul has just pleaded guilty to the Lesser charge of abh so Sabrina will no longer have to face cross-examination but she wants to see him being sentenced the maximum term for abh is 5 years today just feels like the Pinnacle day feels like this is the day that everything could change this day sort of hinders or helps the rest of my
52:00 - 52:30 [Music] life s what happened my world turned upside down is what happened I don't think Sabrina realized quite when she saw him how she was going to react and
52:30 - 53:00 um didn't expect to because obviously that there was a different man sat there really you know it was the man who before before he beaten the crap out of her it was it was that it was the man she probably fell in love with that was sat there and I suppose she wasn't really prepared for that I thought I was going to hate him and I don't I still love him per it's EAS it's not
53:00 - 53:30 though very destructive feeling anger is a very destructive emotion he got two years so you serve usually half of that so that's a year he served 10 months already so he's got two months left of his sentence for this and then he's got nine weeks added on for the suspended [Music] when the judge said that um Sabrina was
53:30 - 54:00 lucky to come out of the flat alive and I thought is she's going to throw the book at him and the injuries that she sustained went on and you know the weapons that was used she went into great detail about that so you know he's received 2 years I walked in there with my chin in the air determined to send him down for as long as I possibly could and then I saw them lead him out and I saw him sat
54:00 - 54:30 there and I looked at him and he looked at me and her eyes met him and I could see it in his face I could see it when he celester in his barass to turn around and said that he was ashamed of himself I could see that he was he went to Pieces Just like I did and he's being the man that I remember and all I wanted to do was run over to him and wrap my arms around him and tell him it's okay I I'll be
54:30 - 55:00 here I'll be here when you come out we can try again I don't know I don't [Music] know I feel anxious to be honest I keep going over and over in my head did it go well did it not did it this did that you know I feel like I have to remind myself
55:00 - 55:30 to breathe and the jury are now out so we're just waiting for the phone call to see what happens the anxiety built up through the week so at least it'll be over either way now hopefully he doesn't get off and do it again you know that's more what this was about to be honest imagine if I did nothing and he did it again to somebody else you know he is a danger to women totally
55:30 - 56:00 mentally and physically he's a danger to [Music] women hello Gemma hello uh are you ready for this yeah section 18 gbh with intent
56:00 - 56:30 guilty oh my God thank God yeah I know thank you Julia seriously thank you so much I'm stood out here by the buses I None come along thank you so much thank you so much just stay there and P yourself for glass of something so we got the right result at
56:30 - 57:00 the end of the day so all right thank you Julia all right bye you got [Music] it I can't believe he's got it he's going to be locked up for a very long
57:00 - 57:30 time he's gone oh who's gone D yeah yay they said he's guilty why are you crying CU mom's just happy I was worried and then when it come through it's been hard has it yeah what's that you want some stay up stay up please God
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