'I still feel knife's sting years after attack'

A woman has said she still feels the "sting" of the knife that wounded her when she was attacked five years ago.

Sioux Watkins was walking in Hartshill Hayes Country Park in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in February 2021 when a man on a bicycle attacked her in an attempted robbery.

She suffered what she described as "superficial cuts" to her arm along with a smashed nose and bruised ribs. Her assailant has never been caught, she said.

Her comments came after a YouGov poll, commissioned by Active Travel England (ATE), showed nine in 10 women in the West Midlands felt unsafe while walking at night.

Speaking to BBC Politics Midlands, Watkins said she remembered feeling blood on her arm "and everywhere" after she was cut.

"It didn't sink in properly for days but I kept waking up hearing the sound of the flick knife," she said. "I still do occasionally, hear the sound of that flick knife.

"I feel the sting, you never forget the sting of a knife. Even though it was superficial scratches on my arm, the actual feeling of a sting of a knife is something I'll never forget."

The survey, which polled 1,094 women across the UK, of whom 90 were based in the West Midlands, showed seven in 10 nationwide had changed their route to avoid walking in the dark in the past year.

Following the research, ATE said it would publish new guidance this year alongside training sessions for local authorities.

It said it would set out how councils could redesign neighbourhoods with women and girls in mind, including the installation of better lighting, creating better walking routes and expanding CCTV coverage.

Local authorities would be able to use part of ATE's £626m funding pot, announced in 2025, to fund some of these safety measures, it said.

Watkins said the measures were needed "long ago", describing the issue of violence against women and girls as "urgent" and "at an all time high".

Responding to the findings, North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan told BBC Politics Midlands she thought it was "outrageous" women still had to let their friends know they were safe after getting home from a night out.

"That's the culture that we live in and that's the culture we need to change," the Liberal Democrat added.

She said asking councils to have better planning was "all very well" but said it was a "cultural problem".

Morgan continued: "That's why we need to be looking at online safety and attitudes to women early on so primarily boys are learning it's not acceptable to have these violent attitudes towards women."

Councillor Jo Barker, a Conservative on Warwickshire County Council, told the programme the funding was "very welcome".

"When there are more people about as well, that helps," she added. "Since Covid, people aren't out and about as much."

Dr Allison Gardner, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, said there was a lot of work going on in the government and in her own constituency to tackle the issue.

This included creating safer routes in Stoke-on-Trent in new developments via the planning process and ensuring areas were lit up at night.

"Designing out crime and designing out the risk to women is very valuable," she added.

Politics Midlands is on BBC One in the region from 10:00 BST on Sunday, and available afterwards on BBC iPlayer.

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