'I thought I was going to die in that relationship': Domestic abuse survivors 'robbed of justice' call for law change

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google

Warning: contains distressing content

Julie Walker, 55, endured a terrifying campaign of harassment, coercion and abuse at the hands of her ex-husband.

“I was attacked with spanners,” she recalled. “I had knives held to my throat. I had burning hot things thrown over me. I've had an eye so damaged that it detached my retina. In one incident, he attempted to kill me by suffocation with a black bag over my head.

"I genuinely thought I wasn't getting out of that bag alive. I was fully convinced that I was going to die in that relationship.”

Now, she is waiving her right to anonymity to share her story exclusively with LBC, in the hope it can lead to reform and protect other victims from what she went through.

When her ex-husband was arrested in January last year, he was charged with strangling and threatening to kill Julie, as well as stalking and engaging in controlling behaviour. At the time, he pleaded ‘not guilty’.

Read more: First teenage suicide linked to domestic abuse recorded in England and Wales

Read more: Without safe housing, women might never escape domestic abusers - I've seen it firsthand

But in October, as Julie was entering court, he changed his plea to ‘guilty’ for stalking and coercive behaviour, avoiding a trial and denying her the chance to share her testimony. She believes the change of plea also resulted in him receiving a lighter sentence than had it gone to trial.

“He pushed it to the last moment, and then decided to go guilty,” said Julie. “The only reason they go guilty at the last minute is to cover their own backs and make things easier for them. He should never have been allowed to change his plea. It takes away from the horror I went through. His punishment would have been so different had the judge and jury known the full story. And to be robbed of that is just so wrong.”

He was sentenced in November to 30 months in prison, although he’s due to be released this coming August. “It’s less than a year of inconvenience for something that took eight years of my life that I can never get back,” she said.

Despite a restraining order and relocating, Julie worries she could be in danger again: “my life is ruined forever, and I will be looking over my shoulder for the rest of it.”

‘Unfair’

Judges are required by law to take a guilty plea into account and consider a reduced sentence accordingly. But Priya Dawkins, founder of The Jessica Project, an organisation supporting recovery from domestic abuse, calls the current situation “unfair” for victims.

It’s a “real insult,” she claims, “because a survivor has taken so much strength to actually walk that long journey, and that change of plea is like a last bit of control from the perpetrator. They’ve dragged you through all of this, knowing that changing their plea at the last moment is going to hurt you further.”

Victims of coercive control often wait months or years for a trial, reliving trauma while preparing evidence. Several victims have told LBC how this period can also feel like prolonging distress and suffering, and for the defendant to then plead guilty at a late stage continues that cycle of abuse.

One victim, Paris Shears, 30, has launched a petition calling for a new law that would remove the incentive for defendants to change their plea in a bid to reduce their sentence.

“I want to introduce something called Paris’s Law. If someone pleads not guilty and it goes to trial, you cannot change it later to receive a reduced sentence,” she explained. “If you want to change your plea, fine, but you will not receive a benefit from that.”

She is hoping it will mean guilty defendants admit to crimes at the first available opportunity, or if they plead not guilty then they’d at least be forced to face trial.

Paris Shears’s ex-partner pleaded ‘not guilty’ to various charges, including intentional strangulation and assault. 236 days later, on day one of the trial, he changed his plea, and the trial didn’t resume.

“I was ready to speak, I was ready for my voice to be heard, and I was ready for people to understand what I’d lived through,” she told LBC. “I was silenced again at the very last minute. And it meant he just controlled the narrative again.”

A charge of controlling or coercive behaviour was left on file, but her ex-partner avoided jail, instead receiving an 18-month suspended sentence last month. “When I go out, I walk with my headphones in and my sunglasses on, just looking everywhere, expecting him to be there,” she explained. “It’s changed my life. It’s ruined my life.”

An epidemic’

Paris Shears’s petition today hit 100,000 signatures, meaning MPs may debate the proposals in Parliament.

The government calls violence against women and girls “an epidemic that it is working to halve in the next decade.” In a statement to LBC, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said the department is “carefully” assessing recommendations from an independent review of criminal courts, which aims to encourage defendants to plead guilty earlier and deliver better outcomes for victims. The MoJ says it will “set out its full response in due course and expresses its sympathies for Paris Shears.”

In response to her petition, the government said: “guilty pleas given later in the process can still benefit victims and the administration of justice but are reflected by a substantially lower reduction in sentence.” A plea on the first day of trial can see a sentence reduced by just 10%, compared to a possible reduction of one-third for a guilty plea at the first hearing.

Back in February 2025, the Home Office announced £13 million in funding to launch a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, to improve the response to violence against women and girls. Yet Jess Phillips MP resigned as the safeguarding minister last week, claiming she has “given up” believing the Prime Minister was doing enough to clamp down on violence against women and girls.

Shortly after completing his five-year tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer claimed in 2014 that the justice system in England and Wales “is not fit for purpose for victims. The more vulnerable you are as a victim, the less able the criminal justice system is to protect you.”

But Paris Shears feels let down by Sir Keir’s term in Downing Street: “can he show what’s been done on this? No, he cannot.” She also fears that the recent political instability could impact the delivery of reform for victims.

Her local MP in Eastleigh, Liberal Democrat Liz Jarvis, agrees: “I feel very frustrated and quite angry that my constituents are having to put up with this endless turmoil in government while they have real problems that need to be sorted out. And as long as the government is focused on fighting amongst themselves, they're not focusing on the issues that really matter to my constituents and people across the country.”

Ms Jarvis has praised Paris’s campaign “as an inspiring one,” adding that “she is doing a fantastic job amplifying the voices of people who have sadly been victims of coercive control. I will be pushing the Minister to ensure that Paris is listened to and changes are finally made.”

“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” Paris concludes. “That is what I would say to victims and survivors. But I know something for sure, and that is: together we are stronger.”

If you’ve been affected by anything in that piece, you can call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline run by Refuge on 0808 2000 247.

You can view Paris Shears’s petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/764553