‘Then I heard the gunfire’: The survivors fighting to create a future free from domestic abuse

Victims have been hiding in plain sight for a long time, but the pandemic has allowed many cases to fester at home. Natasha Phillips speaks to the women and men ensuring the Domestic Abuse Bill protects everyone

A lone woman walks down the middle of a main road in Westminster during England's third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus (PA)

The first time Rachel Williams can remember an assault in vivid detail was when she was seven months pregnant. Darren, her partner, had walked up the stairs after an argument, gripped her by the throat and lifted her off the ground while she struggled to breathe.

“Darren only stopped when he noticed my lips turning blue. After that he was full of remorse, crying and telling me he knew he had a problem and needed help,” Rachel says, “so in those moments I made allowances for his behaviour.”

Charming and with a great sense of humour, Darren was attentive and kind at the start of their relationship. Within a year, Rachel, who was already a mother to Josh, her son from a previous partner, became pregnant with Jack. The manipulations were undetectable at first, but the pregnancy triggered Darren’s abusive behaviour and, in increments, he started to control Rachel’s routine and her social life. The year was 1995.