‘My Best Friend Killed Her Violent Partner'

When Fri Martin was convicted of murder, Heather Savage was one of the few people who knew about the years of abuse she had suffered. Here, Heather explains why she’s hoping for justice for her friend, and the children she’s raising on her behalf

- Anna Moore

Your best friend is being beaten by her boyfriend but she’s made you promise not to tell anyone – ‘Please, Heather, I’m begging you to keep quiet,’ Fri had pleaded. So what do you do? You could call the police, but it’s your word against hers. You could tell her family, but she’d stop talking to them and be even more alone. All you can do is be there, tell her she needs to get away from him and hope that one day she’ll be ready to listen. There were times when Fri didn’t answer my calls, so I'd go round to her flat and knock on the door to check she was OK. Maybe part of me was scared her boyfriend would kill her. I never imagined it would be the other way round.

I can’t remember a time when Fri (short for Farieissia) and I weren’t joined at the hip. We went to the same nursery and same primary school, and she lived near my nan’s house. We felt like sisters more than friends. Fri was the outgoing one; she liked the limelight and I was happier in the background. At the school nativity play, she was the Angel Gabriel while I sat in the corner, jingling bells. But when it was just the two of us, we were always laughing. We grew up in a part of Liverpool where everyone knows everyone. Fri was well loved – she lived with her mum and three older brothers. They were a close family and I’d spend loads of time at her house. Her mum would cook us amazing Caribbean food. Fri was independent, outspoken and hated asking for help. She was also petite and immaculately turned out, with a mass of long, brown hair. Dancing was her thing and she dreamed of becoming a dancer, taking classes and, as we got older, teaching too. We used to talk about the flat we’d share one day, looking through catalogues to pick out our furniture.