Voices: My friend was killed by her husband – I’ve made it my mission to help others escape domestic abuse

Joanna Simpson was murdered within earshot of her two young children at their Berkshire home by the man she was trying to leave - (ITV)

For the many women and their children experiencing abuse, home is often the scene where crimes are carried out – behind closed doors, with perpetrators inflicting a pattern of devastating behaviours that, over time, erode a woman and her children’s self-worth, identity, emotional and physical wellbeing, and, in the most devastating cases, takes lives.

This is what happened to my friend Jo.