When staying home ISN'T 安全な: Calls to 国内の 乱用 helplines have risen 25 per cent in weeks ― and the stories behind them are horrifying

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There?were 豊富な career women and stay-at-home mums; wives of 政治家，政治屋s and 外科医s, and 亡命-探検者s reliant on food banks.

老年の from their 20s to their 70s, they often had little in ありふれた except one thing: they had all been 乱用d by their partners.

会合 up for counselling at the charity Woman’s 信用 供給するd a much-needed 一時的休止，執行延期. ‘The women would 抱擁する. There was that warmth and 関係 of getting out to where they were 安全な,’ says Beth Thompson, the therapist who ran support groups for up to 50 women a week.

Since the coronavirus lockdown began on March 23, however, the Woman’s 信用 centre in West London has been の近くにd. The 会合s have gone online ― helpful for women who have left violent 関係s but little use for those still living with abusers, who can’t escape to スピードを出す／記録につける on and have lost a 決定的な lifeline to the outside world. ‘They are 罠にかける with the person who 乱用s them,’ says Thompson. ‘It’s like 拷問.’

専門家s who 申し込む／申し出 support to 犠牲者s of 国内の 乱用, 明らかにする／漏らすd the difficulty of continuing まっただ中に lockdown. Pictured:?Kelly Fitzgibbons and her daughters who were?設立する dead in a 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd 殺人/自殺 in West Sussex

If they want support, they must 危険 the wrath of violent partners who 監視する their every move.

‘It’s almost impossible for them to get in touch,’ says Thompson, who is trying 猛烈に to help by working remotely. ‘They’ll email or text to say they are struggling. They may have to go for a walk to call me from outside. I always ask: “Is it 安全な? Is there anyone in the room?” いつかs it’s a stilted conversation, where I ask a question and they reply yes or no.

‘If I felt a woman was in danger and having to whisper, I’d have to say: “Let’s 終結させる the call.” Our 最初の／主要な 関心 is safety.’

For 乱用d women, 存在 put under 事実上の 自宅監禁 gives an already traumatic home life a terrifying 新たな展開.

‘People say: “At least you get to （船に）燃料を積み込む／（軍）地下えんぺい壕 負かす／撃墜する with your family.” And that is a lovely thing ― if you’ve got a loving family,’ says Thompson, who is in her 40s. ‘存在 孤立するd with your 悪党／犯人 is a nightmare that can make women feel different and ashamed.’

研究 shows that when 世帯s are under 緊張する, 出来事/事件s of 国内の 暴力／激しさ 増加する. ‘悪党／犯人s may have lost 職業s or have 財政上の 強調する／ストレスs,’ says Thompson. ‘They may be drinking more, which massively 増加するs an already stressful 環境.’

によれば UN Women, a 全世界の organisation for women’s 権利s, 行動主義者s have 報告（する）／憶測d a 殺到する in 国内の 暴力／激しさ in 中国, where a coronavirus lockdown began in January. Some police 駅／配置するs had three times as many 報告（する）／憶測s of 国内の 暴力／激しさ in February compared with that month last year.

国内の 乱用 charity 避難, 明らかにする／漏らすd they've experienced a 25 per cent 増加する in calls to their helpline. Pictured:?Robert Needham, 42, who was 設立する dead with his partner, Kelly Fitzgibbons, and two young daughters in West Sussex

In Britain, the charity 避難 says calls to its helpline have risen by 25 per cent since lockdown began.

Stories that may be linked to 国内の 暴力／激しさ in lockdown have already 現れるd. On Saturday, March 28, a man was 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d with having committed Britain’s first self-孤立／分離 殺人, after his 67-year-old wife was 設立する dead at their home in South むちの跡s.

Just a day later, a man was 逮捕（する）d on suspicio n of 殺人 after a woman was stabbed to death in South Yorkshire. On the same day, Robert Needham, 42, was 設立する dead with his partner, Kelly Fitzgibbons, and two young daughters in a 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd 殺人/自殺 at their home in Woodmancote, West Sussex.

‘I think we’ll see an 増加する in 自殺,’ says Thompson. ‘The women I speak to don’t see the point in going on.’

避難 says its staff are ‘working 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the clock’ to keep services open. It 示唆するs 乱用d women keep their 動きやすい phone 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d and with them, and try ― as best they can ― to 避ける areas that might 含む／封じ込める 可能性のある 武器s (such as the kitchen and garage).

Other 選挙運動者s have written to ask hotel chains to give unoccupied rooms to 乱用 犠牲者s.

Hannah ツバメ, 47, from 価値（がある）ing, West Sussex, who was once in an abusive marriage says women in 孤立／分離 don't have a place for safety (とじ込み／提出する image)

Home 長官 Priti Patel has reminded 苦しんでいる人s that 避難s are still open ― though some women may hesitate to use them.

‘I’ve heard there are women thinking about returning to the 悪党／犯人 because of the 恐れる of living in communal accommodation with Covid-19,’ says Lucy Hadley, of the charity Women’s 援助（する）.

Hadley 強調する／ストレスs that the charity is still open, though with many 地元の services 転換ing support online.

Even those who have taken the first steps に向かって freedom may return to the abusive 関係 now they are stuck at home.

Karen Holden, managing partner at 合法的な practice A City 法律 会社／堅い, says she has been asked by women in volatile marriages to stop 離婚 訴訟／進行s, even though 法廷，裁判所s are still ― this week, at least ― 行為／行うing telephone 離婚 審理，公聴会s.

One of the hallmarks of an abuser is their ability to manipulate their partner into thinking they can’t escape. And in the 現在の 気候, that is easier than ever.

‘Women in 孤立／分離 have no place of safety, nobody to 抱擁する and no 一時的休止，執行延期 from the 乱用,’ says Hannah ツバメ, 47, from 価値（がある）ing, West Sussex, who was in an abusive marriage between 2001 and 2006.

With 外部の support harder to come by, a 技術d abuser may 現在の a fa?広告 of 慰安, says Hannah. ‘An abuser will often charm their 犠牲者 between episodes of 暴力／激しさ ― and 権利 now, these women are more in danger of going 支援する.’

Gemma Evans, 37, who is an 外交官／大使 for Women’s 援助（する）, has been told by three women that their 乱用 has got worse since lockdown (とじ込み／提出する image)

For those hoping to bring 犯罪の 訴訟／進行s against a partner, or who have done so and now rely on the 司法（官） system to keep them 安全な, the 状況／情勢 is even worse. All 犯罪の 裁判，公判s have now been put on 持つ／拘留する.

And even getting to the phone to 報告（する）／憶測 暴力／激しさ may now be impossible. ‘犠牲者s are 脅すd of 存在 seen at their computer or on their phone,’ says Gemma Evans, 37, an 外交官／大使 for Women’s 援助（する）, whose 独立した・無所属 Facebook support group for 犠牲者s has 500 members. Since lockdown, she has noticed a 劇の 落ちる in public activity.

Instead, women have started 接触するing her 直接／まっすぐに at erratic hours ― and those messages are ますます fraught. ‘You have to make sense of what they are 説. They’re on 辛勝する／優位 and 脅すd.’

Three women have already told her their 乱用 has got worse since lockdown, with 悪党／犯人s losing their 職業s ‘and taking it out on the 犠牲者’.

Gemma 追加するs: ‘One woman is a 重要な 労働者. While she’s at work she’s worried because her children are with her partner. He’s never done anything to them before, but he has to her . . . it’s all very 井戸／弁護士席 説 make sure the children are 安全な, but she’s got to make sure there’s still money coming in.’

Gemma says the internet can’t replicat e 直面する-to-直面する counselling ― and many women are also 存在 robbed of the solace of their careers, which may feel like the one place where they can 海難救助 some 支配（する）／統制する over their lives.

It’s a 有毒な cocktail of circumstances that 提起する／ポーズをとるs a very real 脅し to women’s safety ― and their lives.

‘He’d kick me off the bed ― I still have the bruises’

存在 罠にかける at home with an abuser puts 犠牲者s at 広大な／多数の／重要な 危険. Here, one woman in her 30s tells how she spent two weeks in lockdown with a violent partner, before 逃げるing for her own safety. She is now staying with 親族s.

A couple of policemen stood on the doorstep of the flat I 株d with my boyfriend to ask their 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of dark questions.

の中で them: ‘Are you 妊娠している? Has he 脅すd to use 武器s against you? Are you 脅すd of him?’

I’d heard these questions before, after a big 列／漕ぐ／騒動 at the start of this year. It had turned violent ― the first time he’d 攻撃する，衝突する me in our year-long 関係 ― and I’d called the police.

That time, they had come inside and kept my partner in a separate room while I gave my answers. My boyfriend was 逮捕（する）d and spent the night in a 独房. But I’d asked for the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s to be dropped after the officer in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 (a man) 示唆するd ひどく that it wouldn’t get anywhere in 法廷，裁判所: my word against his.

One woman in her thirties, 明らかにする／漏らすd she became afraid of her partner as arguments 増大するd? and the police was called by 隣人s (とじ込み／提出する image)?

This second time, two months later, it was our 隣人s who had called police. But now we were in lockdown, so the officers couldn’t step over the threshold ― and as they asked their questions, I knew my boyfriend was listening to every word.

I lied and said ‘no’ to everything, and the police left.

In truth, our arguments had 増大するd and I was 脅すd ― of him, and of who I was becoming. We are both professionals in our 30s and I’d never experienced anything like this before.

But lockdown meant our 選択s were わずかな／ほっそりした. We rented an expensive one-bedroom flat, but the landlord wouldn’t let us leave our 契約 早期に, にもかかわらず knowing about the 逮捕（する）.

We were also still in love, or something was 納得させるing us we were. Love, I’ve learned, can have a 破滅的な delusional sway.

You remember the person they were in the beginning. He’d bought me flowers, told me he loved me more than anyone he’d ever met, 手配中の，お尋ね者 to discuss marriage a nd kids. He said he’d never done that with anyone else, that this was ‘different’.

That was the excuse we used when things got bad, too. We were ‘different’; this was ‘different’. It had to work.

We did break up for a few weeks after he was 逮捕（する）d, and he left the home we 株 ― but （機の）カム 支援する the day after the lockdown 告示, 説 he had nowhere else to go.

The woman 解任するs her abuser hiding the WiFi box when they weren't getting on, spitting on her 直面する and calling her a 'whore' (とじ込み／提出する image)

I’d enjoyed 存在 there on my own. It was lonely but I could work, as he wasn’t there to unplug and hide the WiFi box when we weren’t getting on. No one spat in my 直面する or called me a ‘whore’. Before, if we weren’t getting on, he’d 注ぐ drinks over my food or not let me use items he’d bought (even though we 株d the food shopping).

Once he had come 支援する, I was shocked to realise how unapologetic he was for 強襲，強姦ing me. Instead, he 推定する／予想するd me to co mfort him for 存在 逮捕（する）d.

Once lockdown started, I couldn’t go to stay with my parents, or rely on friends to give me a bed for the night.

Going out once a day for a walk isn’t enough to 冷静な／正味の things 負かす／撃墜する when you argue all day and night. If I tried, and he let me leave the house, I’d return to find him wanting to carry on the ‘talk’ (which meant argue).

I’ve never been 脅迫してさせるd by a man before ― I’m tall, strong, 確信して ― but it was 脅すing. After I threw half a glass of water at him in 怒り／怒る, he held me 負かす／撃墜する and 注ぐd another over my 長，率いる. He wouldn’t let me sleep in the bed if we’d had a 列／漕ぐ／騒動, and if I tried, he’d kick me off.

I still have 指紋 bruises on my 武器 and there’s a pear-sized, greeny-blue bruise on my 支援する, too.

The 匿名の／不明の woman who is now staying with 親族s, said she got away from her abuser after seeing 国内の 暴力／激しさ 報告（する）／憶測s on the news (とじ込み／提出する image)

He 傷つける himself, too ― and that was my fault, he said. Seeing someone 繰り返して box himself in the 直面する is shocking, the first time. By the end, I was used to it.

But the 状況／情勢 was making me feel 女性 and also 原因（となる）ing 爆発性の 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合s of 怒り／怒る. I lost my 冷静な／正味の twice after 存在 叫び声をあげるd and spat at and penned in the corner of rooms.

That feeling of 存在 罠にかける ― both in a tight space with him shouting at me, and more 広範囲にわたって because of lockdown ― unhinged something in me. I 攻撃する，衝突する him several times trying to get past him, and he threw me over the coffee （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. It shocked us both.

After two weeks of lockdown, I knew I had to leave. I hadn’t gone sooner because I didn’t want to carry the coronavirus 支援する to family members, 特に as my dad is in his 70s.

A lot of trains were cancelled and there was talk of £600 罰金s for unnecessary travel. But 国内の 暴力／激しさ 報告（する）／憶測s on the news, and the 恐れるs of my friends, began to 証明する to me that it was necessary travel: I wasn’t 安全な.

The 救済 when I finally got away ― I’m now staying with 親族s ― was 圧倒的な.

Some 指名するs in this article have been changed.

If you are a 犠牲者 of 国内の 乱用, call the freephone 24-hour 国家の 国内の 乱用 Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit womanstrust.org.uk, womensaid.org.uk or 避難.org.uk.