'My abuser made me eat food off the floor'

A survivor of domestic violence has told a summit that the abuse of women and girls is a "national emergency" and that she was lucky to be alive.

Lauryn Pulleyn spoke at the event in Harrogate organised by York and North Yorkshire's Deputy Mayor for Policing, Jo Coles.

She told the audience that she was helped by a charity that did "the government's work" after becoming severely malnourished during her ordeal.

Coles said: “Addressing the appalling levels of violence against women and girls across our area is a top priority for Mayor David Skaith and I, as we develop our police and crime plan for the next four years.”

The summit was attended by more than 100 people from different groups and organisations involved with the push to tackle gender-based violence.

It was set up to find ways to get those organisations to work more closely to rebuild trust in the police and improve outcomes for survivors.

Ms Pulleyn told the conference that the abuse she suffered included being forced to eat food off the floor, being locked inside her home, being cut off from her family and friends and being subjected to prolonged periods of silence before a violent outburst.

She gave birth to twins after her former partner denied her the use of contraception – and the two girls were “weaponised” by her abuser.

But she said the children helped her summon up the strength to leave – an experience she compared to “standing on the edge of a cliff".

“I packed one carrier bag and walked out of the door," she said.

"I knew that if I stayed, I would be dead.

"But if it wasn’t for the intervention of (domestic abuse charities) IDAS and Kyra I wouldn’t be here today.”

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Coles said she and the mayor were now setting priorities for their police and crime plan, which would run for the next four years.

"That will include what we need to do to commission services to provide that absolute support for women across our communities in different places," Ms Coles said.

"We need a mobile service - that goes to women where they are - a coastal service, and we need the services in the cities and towns as well."

North Yorkshire Police Assistant Ch Con Ben Moseley told the summit the force was using a “national dedicated framework” to prioritise addressing violence against women and girls.

Mr Moseley said that the approach included five "high-harm and high-threat" areas - rape and serious sexual offences, domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, online and tech-enabled violence, and child sexual abuse and exploitation - that the force would focus on.

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