MY EX HID IN THE ATTIC

AMY’S ABUSIVE EX-PARTNER FOUND A WAY TO STAY IN HER LIFE

With two babies to care for, Amy Birch was a busy single mum, trying her best to give them a happy life.

But behind the smiling selfies with her young children is a terrifying story about the cruel domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of her ‘knight in shining armour’.

Amy’s ex-partner Aaron Chidgey, 25, has been jailed for 15 months after subjecting Amy to a creepy campaign of harassment.

Despite two court orders telling Aaron to stay away from Amy’s home, he hid in her loft for six days, secretly watching the mum of two from the attic.

She tells New Idea: “I was sickened to discover Aaron had been in my home for God knows how long and I had no idea.

“My fear is that he will stop at nothing to hurt me. I have moved 10 times in the last year to hide from him, but he always finds me.”

Amy started a relationship with Chidgey three years ago, when she was just 17 and living on the city streets.

After a tumultuous few years as a teenage tearaway, Amy had ended up homeless.

“I was at my lowest ebb; I’d been drinking and using drugs,” Amy says.

“I just wanted someone to rescue me from myself.”

That’s when Chidgey entered her life.

It was January 11, 2017, and Amy heard someone call her name as she struggled to find somewhere safe to sleep.

“It was my second night on the streets when I bumped into Aaron,” Amy recalls. “All I wanted was someone to protect me and take me under their wing.”

Chidgey took Amy to the camp he and some friends shared and she stayed that night in his tent.

Amy says: “He was so kind to me and we stayed up talking all night. From then on we were a couple.”

Amy started saving up any spare money she had and contacted charities to get help.