‘Abused, stalked and terrorised by my own dad'

Jess is still traumatised by the “monster” who threatened to stab her mum and was later caged for attempted murder

- SANDRA WALSH

Domestic violence incidents increased by more than 50% during the recent lockdowns. And Jess, 30, knows only too well what it’s like to grow up in an abusive home. The charity fundraiser is mum to a three-month-old daughter, and lives with her partner Jack in north Wales. Here she shares her harrowing story…

'I was 18 and hadn’t seen my father Lee* for two years when two police officers knocked at the door. I knew immediately it would be something to do with him. What had he done this time?

The police said he’d been charged with attempted murder and I felt sick as they explained that his girlfriend was lucky to be alive after being stabbed in the neck.

It was shocking to hear, but I wasn’t surprised. Nearly all my life, Lee had been threatening to kill me, too, as well as my brother and my mum. I knew how fortunate we were to have escaped his evil clutches.

It took me years to realise our household was anything but normal. Lee – I’ll never call him Dad – was controlling and often violent.

Mum bore the brunt of it, but he’d often punch, slap and pinch me and my brother James*, who was four years younger than me.

We never knew when Lee was going to flip. It could be something as harmless as putting a plate down in the wrong place. If he’d had a drink, we knew we’d suffer. He’d punch us through the Yellow Pages directory, saying it worked better because it wouldn’t leave a bruise.

Worse was the psychological abuse. He drilled holes in the walls at home so he could watch us at all times and took off door handles so we had no privacy. We had to ask to use the toilet.