 CPS staff want to ensure people in the refuges do not feel left out |
Women and children in domestic violence refuges in Lincolnshire are being given Christmas presents by staff from the county's Crown Prosecution Service. Organiser Deborah Cartwright said one of the issues concerned self-esteem.
"Many women put up with abuse because they feel they're doing the best thing for their children by staying.
"So when they leave there is often a huge sense of guilt of what they're depriving their children of - and at Christmas that is often magnified."
"There are more incidents at this time of year without a doubt," said Det Con Yvonne Dyson, a domestic violence officer in Lincolnshire.
 |  I'd got the turkey ready, all the vegetables. I just left everything and went to my mum's with the kids |
She attributed this to a number of factors: people being at home together, alcohol and the additional pressures and stress brought on by the festive season.
"People involved in this are often very controlling, they're not going to like the fact their partners are going out to parties.
"They often isolate the women from their families... they're very controlling and very jealous."
Women who have left violent relationships often remember the festive season as a bad time.
"I just used to dread Christmas. Just the thought of it - oh God, what's going to happen this year? He wouldn't care if the kids were there. He'd still hit me, kick me," said Anne, from Lincoln.
 Additional pressure at Christmas can aggravate domestic violence |
She recalled an occasion when her husband beat her up after locking himself in their living room with a woman he was having an affair with early on Christmas morning.
"It was horrendous really when I think about it. I'd got the turkey ready, all the vegetables. I just left everything and went to my mum's with the kids."
Hers is not an isolated case. Jenny James of Lincoln Refuge said she has actually taken in two women on Christmas Day itself over the last four or five years, one of them the mother of a young baby.
"She arrived with absolutely nothing, no food, no nappies, no bottles, nothing. And that particular time there were no other babies here living at the refuge and all the shops were shut.
"I had to go to the maternity wing at the local hospital to scrounge nappies and bottles."
| Women are frightened they may lose their homes but that doesn't have to happen |
Maria, who left her violent relationship in September, said: "Just before Christmas two years ago, he broke my arm, he just kept smashing it against the side of a wall. That was probably the worst time, he'd had a stressful time at work...
"This Christmas is going to be very strange because I'm expecting certain things to happen, but I'm having a lot of support from Grantham Women's Centre. It'll be much more relaxed, we'll be normal. I won't be frightened he'll come through the door."
She stressed there was hope for women experiencing similar problems.
"They don't have to stay there. It's very important they ask for help. Women are frightened they may lose their homes but that doesn't have to happen, the courts can help and the perpetrator can be made to leave."
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