'I didn't feel believed after reporting sexual assault'

A survivor of domestic violence has revealed she received "no support at all from anybody" after reporting the abuse.

Anne - not her real name - went on to help create a new countywide strategy to tackle violence against women and girls in Hertfordshire, which was launched on Monday.

The strategy aims to prevent incidents happening and provide better support when they do.

A police officer at the launch pledged that colleagues would "listen with compassion" and "do everything we can" to support victims.

Anne said that when she went to the police about the abuse: "I had to give a statement about six times to two male police officers and I had to go into enormous detail about the sexual offences.

"I was sexually assaulted when I was 16 and the professionals that interviewed me asked me if maybe I was using that rape to cover this one."

She added: "I had no support at all from anybody, so I didn't feel believed whatsoever."

After a court case, she started supporting women at her church who had been through trauma and became a domestic abuse practitioner.

Sue - also not her real name - is another survivor who rang the police to report coercive control and threats of violence.

She said the police call handler was not "dismissive in words but they were dismissive in tone".

She phoned again and her allegations were logged as non-crimes.

Eventually, her allegations were taken seriously and the police took a statement, which Sue withdrew because she was worried the result might have been no further action or a caution.

After further incidents, she did make another complaint and a man was arrested, who was later released without charge.

Sue said coercive control was often difficult to prove on its own, "so something needs to change around that in terms of how do we arrest and charge people for coercive control when there isn't going to be tonnes of evidence necessarily".

She now trains police officers and civilian staff in better ways to treat survivors of violence against women and girls.

She said: "There's a real willingness to understand what the victim needs and wants for them.

"We're not teaching rocket science here, we're just doing it so they can be involved and freely talk with victims."

Det Ch Supt Adam Ghaboos, Hertfordshire Police's head of public protection, said survivors getting an inadequate service was "hugely disappointing".

With the strategy now active, he pledged that victims would get a "brilliant service" from the police.

"Our officers will listen with compassion," he said, "we will do everything we can to get the outcome that the victim survivor desires."

Ajanta Hilton, the county council's executive member for community safety, said the strategy would help survivors like Kerrie and Jo by bringing different organisations together.

She said: "We will have people on the ground who will be effectively a one-stop shop.

"So now you won't have to contact the police, then contact Children's Services, then contact something else.

"You can go to this one person who'll be there on the ground to say 'right, you need some legal help, you need this, you need that and I am going to provide that for you'."

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