Workingwelshmama |

I experienced seven years of domestic abuse after I left my husband, who is a serving police officer. I complained to the police that I was being harassed and a senior officer told me it was “just divorce”; nothing was ever done, no crimes were recorded and no action was ever taken against my abuser. I approached the police many times over the years, complaining that I felt I was being harassed and stalked and actually provided the hard evidence – but after a while, it became apparent to me that he was being protected by the police, so I stopped asking them for help and just endured the abuse for the years that followed.

In an FOI request, I discovered the police thought my complaints were malicious, even though they had emails from him to me where he said “I can’t see this situation ever getting better for you, it’ll never be resolved”.
It got so bad that even my Womens’ Aid support officer filed a complaint against him, still with no action taken. Divorce cost me 5 years of fighting to achieve, 12 Court appearances and more than £22K (no legal aid available, so the loan I now pay back is the same cost as my mortgage).

Because my abuser felt his actions were verified by the inability of the police to act and protect me, the abuse towards our children ramped up. It took an attempt to end her life to finally make her decide she no longer wanted contact. A further 6 Family Court appearances and a £7K legal bill later, my child is now safe from her father. My other child has since also ceased contact. I am left with the daily repercussions of all this, physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.

And still, he’s allowed to deal with domestic abuse victims every day as a serving police officer. You couldn’t make it up.


Constabulary: Dyfed-Powys Police


Timespan: Over past 7 years


Did you report it to the police?: Yes


Your ethnicity: White British


Have you experienced suicidality due to this?: Thoughts/feelings


Are you disabled as defined under the Equality Act 2010?: Yes

Illustration by Danny Noble

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