A heartbroken mother whose son was stabbed to death by his fiancée has issued a plea for more refuge spaces to be established throughout the UK to support male victims of domestic violence. Devastated Jose Linnane, 67 reportedly screamed "like an animal" when police informed her that her 23-year-old son, Simon Gilchrist, had tragically been murdered in his flat.
The victim's killer was his abusive fiancée, Caroline Mawhood, who fatally stabbed him in the heart in his flat in York in 2004 after she came home from a night out, the Mirror reports. With only 269 male domestic abuse support units across the UK, Mrs Linnane is pleading for more refuge facilities to open in a bid to help prevent further deaths.
According to the charity, ManKind, London does not have a single safe place for male victims of domestic violence. Mrs Linnane, from York, told the Mirror: "For women I believe there's a refuge in every city or town.
"It should be the same for men. If we don't open more refuges we will have more deaths.
"I've been contacted by people whose sons or brothers have taken their own lives because of domestic abuse. If you find the courage to look for help and there's not much out there you are going to give up."
More male victims are now confiding in their domestic abuse than ever before with one UK helpline receiving a record breaking number of calls from men. However, there are only 269 spaces for males in safe houses across the country in comparison to a reported 4,289 refuge spaces for women in England.
ManKind confirmed that Scotland and the south-east of England have only two spaces each for male victims while London has none at all. In the North-East of England there are 10 spaces, 16 in Wales, 32 in the East Midlands, 24 in the West Midlands, 39 in the south-west, 66 in Yorkshire and Humber and 78 in the north-west.
However, despite the huge difference in refuges for both genders, there is still a lack of space for the vast amount of females who have suffered from domestic abuse. After a huge spike in cases during the Covid pandemic, it's been reported that some shelters had to turn people away.
Mrs Linnane, whose life was turned upside by the devastating murder of her son, is now calling for more refuges to open to prevent further heartbreak. Mrs Linnane said: "Police officers came out and told me he was dead.
"I can't remember the moment they told me but my husband said I screamed like an animal. She stabbed him through his rib and into his heart and liver.
"She then pulled the knife out. He managed to get down the stairs and outside to a telephone box where he phoned his own ambulance.
"They played the recording in court. His final words were 'I've been stabbed come quickly mate'.
"Then he collapsed and someone else took over the call." Despite previously branding Mawhood as "evil" Jose has since chosen to forgive the killer and even wished her a "happy and peaceful" life.
The grief-stricken mother had a conversation with her son's killer over a webcam chat last year as part of a restorative justice process. Mrs Linnane said: "When we were in court they showed the knife with my son's blood on it in a plastic bag.
"I was so close I could have put my hand out and touched it. I told her I had to live with that and that's when she cried.
"She did a bad thing and she deserved to be punished but I told her I forgave her and she said she was sorry." Mawhood who had been dating Simon for 2 years at the time of the murder received life in prison with a minimum term of 12 years.
The killer was later set free but is now back behind bars after breaching her licensing conditions. Mrs Linnane says she hopes Mawhood will turn her life around one day and join the fight against male domestic violence.
Mark Brooks, chairman of the ManKind charity, said: "Every year, we are seeing is more and more men coming forward to helplines and services but this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are not enough resources for male victims in the towns and cities where they live and this has to change.
"The lack of refuge and safe houses is one clear example, but we know that more funding is desperately needed for local domestic abuse services. This would allow far more to employ staff with a specific role to support men and this would make a huge difference too."
During the pandemic, domestic violence cases soared as victims were devastatingly left trapped at home with their abusers. Although most victims were female, a helpline recorded a record-breaking number of calls from male victims too.
These statistics continued into this year as domestic abuse charity Respect, established in 2007, received more calls than ever before on it's Men's Advice line as they took 32,891 calls from April 2021 to April 2022.
Ippo Panteloudakis, head of services at Respect, said the cost-of-living crisis is making things worse. He added: "Sadly, the situation for male victims is not improving.
Callers to the Men’s Advice Line have said that arguments around increasing bills have contributed to their experiences of abuse, and others say they can’t leave and find a place to stay, because they cannot afford it." Another domestic violence charity, Choose Freedom is aiming to open a new refuge in Surrey for men which will welcome LGBTQ+ and heterosexual victims.
If you are a male victim of domestic violence you can call Respect's Men's Advice Line on 0808 801 0327.
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