The senior police officer in charge of preventing violence against women and girls is “concerned” the political discourse around asylum seekers will “distract” from the “overall threat” to women’s safety.
In her first broadcast interview in her new role, Helen Millichap, deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police and now the national lead for violence against women and girls (VAWG), told Sky News the “real threat” comes from a “multitude” of places.
Her comments follow a summer of protests outside migrant hotels, and come after an Ethiopian asylum seeker sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in Epping, Essex.
“It’s a really difficult conversation,” she said. “Where harm is occurring, you must identify it and deal with it.
“We know for sexual offences and domestic abuse, the vast majority of perpetrators are known to the victims. So I don’t want anything to distract from a clear and good understanding of where the threat overall is.
“I’m concerned that the message could get missed in the current political discourse.”
Her words come amid fears in the VAWG sector about the financial sustainability of victim services.
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‘Services at breaking point’
In a letter from the victims’ commissioner to the justice secretary, shared with Sky News, Baroness Newlove said she fears “support for victims is slipping behind other priorities”.
She told David Lammy her concerns have “only deepened” since the spending review in June.
Victim services are “financially at breaking point”, the letter warned, with cuts “directly impacting victims’ safety”.
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Ria Brookes was raped as a teenager and waited months on a waiting list after seeking support.
When help came, she says it was a “lifeline.”
“Without it, I don’t know where I’d be, to be honest with you, I have attempted suicide,” she told Sky News.
“You have that kind of exhale that you’re going to get the help that you need,” she added.
“It was an understanding or a realisation, ‘I can’t do this by myself’.”
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‘People are dying’
Rape Crisis is the largest support service of its kind in England and Wales. It has shut three centres in the space of 12 months and says more than a quarter of others are at risk of doing the same.
“The referrals, we can’t meet the demand,” Red Godfrey-Sagoo, chief executive of Rape Crisis South London, told Sky News.
“Dire, crisis point, broken. Quite frankly – people are dying.”
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A government spokesperson told Sky News they “inherited a £22bn black hole in the nation’s finances” but “remain resolute in our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade”.
“Our upcoming VAWG strategy will set out how we will protect the most vulnerable, and we have already given police across England and Wales a boost of up to £1.2bn on last year, in addition to protecting funding levels of ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse victim support this year,” they added.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email [email protected] in the UK.
Alternatively, you can call Mind’s support line on 0300 102 1234, or NHS on 111.
