Charity boss says 'lessons must be learned' from the death of Fleetwood mum Kiena Dawes

Gill Smallwood MBE joined Gamal and Katie in the studio

The Chief Executive of a Bolton-based charity providing frontline services for people who are, or have been, affected by domestic abuse and violence, has told ITV News lessons must be learned from the death of Kiena Dawes.

Kiena Dawes, 23, left a note on her mobile phone saying her 30-year-old partner Ryan Wellings had "killed me" before she took her own life in Barnacre, near Preston, on 22 July 2022.

One Lancashire Police officer faces disciplinary charges for alleged gross misconduct while two others are accused of misconduct in connection with contact the hairdresser from Fleetwood had with police before her death.

Wellings, from Bispham in Lancashire, was on Monday found guilty of assault and prolonged domestic violence but cleared of her manslaughter.

Gill Smallwood, MBE, who runs the Fort Alice Women's Refuge in Bolton told ITV Granada Reports that more needs to be done to raise awareness.

Gill said: "Sadly it is all too common and something we see on a consistent basis. I have sat on numerous homicide reviews and sadly it is something we see.

"What we often see is that victims will become isolated, they will become quite withdrawn. We see mental health deteriorating and depression kick in. We also see perpetrators sabotaging people's work and threatening partners with social services. Then mums or dads begin to worry that their children will be taken away so the fear factor increases.

"We need to do far more awareness raising. Often people don't realise until it's too late and we are probably not doing enough to raise that awareness. It creeps in with the perpetrator, it's often subtle and before you know it that perpetrator has a lot of control.

"Quite often the victim will believe everything the perpetrator says, accusing them of various things then there is a honeymoon period that comes afterwards so there is a forgiveness because they are looking for that appreciation of themselves in the relationship because they have lost all confidence and self esteem.

"We need to do more training. I think that is absolutely incredibly important. There is also multi-agency work so that we are sharing information so that when health visitors come in they are sharing information. Reviewing cases is also really important because we can see where we have fallen down and that is absolutely imperative to learning particularly with Kiena's case.

"My message would always be contact your local domestic abuse agency. There is a lot of resources out there. The sad thing about domestic abuse charities is that we have to sit quietly in the background because we don't want perpetrators appearing and there have been cases when they have tried to use the services to counteract any allegations.

"My key point would be if somebody is in immediate danger to contact the police."