women in london

Please help celebrate Refuge’s 40th birthday by running the Adidas 5k race in London on 11th September 2011
* Visit https://www.womenschallenge.co.uk/onlineentry/.
* Places cost £15.
* Please select Refuge from drop down menu A, and tick the box so that they can send you a fundraising pack and a Refuge team t shirt.

My name is Millie Lavelle and this year marks my 30th birthday. It also marks fifteen years since my mum was murdered by her ex partner, Rodney Brown. She was killed while she was bathing my younger brother and sister.

For years my mum endured Rodney’s abusive behavior and in 1995 she tried to end the relationship, only to find that the following day when we came home from school he had smashed up the whole house. My mum called the police and although Rodney was not charged the police told my mum they would hold him for as long as they possibly could.

We used that time to leave and go to Bedfordshire where my aunt lived. We took nothing with us- but then we had nothing left. A few says later mum spoke to the council but they told us to go back home because we had made ourselves homeless. We didn’t go back and instead I spent four months sleeping on an airbed in my aunt’s house.

Eventually we managed to get a small flat. My mum started her own business and we were doing well. However Rodney found us and he gradually became part of mum’s life again. But he hadn’t changed- he still stole whatever he could get his hands on, money, furniture, my mum’s sewing machine and jewellery. Mum asked Rodney to leave and he stole her handbag as he left. We called the police, but they weren’t interested at all. All they did was suggest that my mum change the locks and cancel her credit cards.

But Rodney’s controlling behavior didn’t end there- on 6th January 1996 I came home to find an ambulance and two police cars outside our flat. A policeman took me into his car and explained that there had been an incident, and although they ambulance crew had done all they could, my mum was dead after being attacked by Rodney.

Rodney was caught six weeks later. He was later convicted of manslaughter because he pleaded diminished responsibility.

Looking back now I can see how isolated and alone my mum was as she struggled to bring us up on her own. She was terrified of Rodney, but she didn’t know how to get help. She didn’t know that Refuge was there to help her to stay safe and rebuild her life, and my life, free from violence and fear.

That’s why I ran the Great Manchester Run for Refuge this year- in memory of my mum. So many women feel just like my mum- alone, scared and confused. They feel they have no options, nowhere to turn. But that’s not the case- thanks to Refuge. Refuge runs a range of services which protect women and children living in fear: from refuges to legal advocacy and community outreach schemes. It gives women and children like my mum, me and my brother and sister a chance to start a new life in safety.

Refuge opened the world’s very first refuge 40 years ago. It now needs your support to survive, and to grow, so that it can reach out to more women like my mum. Please help ensure that Refuge can be here for as long as women and children need support by joining their special 40th birthday team at the adidas Women’s 5K on September 11.

Visit https://www.womenschallenge.co.uk/onlineentry/. Places cost £15. Please select Refuge from drop down menu A, and tick the box so that they can send you a fundraising pack and a Refuge team t shirt.

You can also make a donation to help support Refuge’s life changing work just ‘RRUN40 £10′ to 70070 or £5 or £2- whatever you can give will make a huge difference to Refuge.

On behalf of my family and the thousands of women and children Refuge supports – thank you

Millie