Eve Thomas is coming to the Isle of Man next week to complete a leg of her Mountain, Lakes & Miles Challenge up Snaefell, fundraising and raising awareness as she goes, on the issues surrounding domestic abuse. She will be joined by member of the Island’s Police Dog section & Victim Support.
Eve is doing this challenge in support of Refuge. She was a victim of domestic violence and abuse for over 21 years. Refuge is a UK charity who have helped her personally but professionally. Eve also successfully campaigned to keep her Safehouse address private, from the court. This is now known commonly as Eve’s Law.
This walk is a particular challenge to Eve because a little over 3 years ago she was offered a wheelchair and an application for an adapted wetroom - She refused and determinedly embarked on getting her physical health back. She also suffers from Prinzmetal Angina, hemiplegic migraines and has stenosis in my neck but she refused to let it beat her. She says “As my strength grew so did my confidence. I adore sauntering, I adore being free. I love to think whilst I am sauntering and have had some of my best ideas whilst wearing my boots. Every saunter is a challenge but I can do it...I know I can and supporting Refuge Charity really spurs me on.”
Eve has been campaigning to put a marker in place to prevent victims of domestic abuse having their address disclosed in open court. It is proposed that Eve’s Law would create an ‘Eve’s Marker’, an order to mark the personal information of a victim of abuse as confidential and highly sensitive. These markers would be registered on a central database with approved multi-agency access. Markers would be personal to the victim, not based on an address, so that all contact information of the victim falls under the protection of the marker.
Eve’s Marker will create greater accountability and increase safeguarding for vulnerable victims. In effect, Eve’s Marker is a ‘red flag’ that will put the person who is handling the data on notice that it must never be disclosed unless and until exceptional circumstances demand it.
Eve said of the walking challenge “What started as a Twitter conversation with the wonderful Isle Of Man Constabulary Police Dog Handlers has turned into something AWESOME! The Isle of Man is very lucky to have such an open and friendly Police team - I cannot wait to meet everyone!
The Isle of Man Police first became aware of Eves challenge via the dog unit Twitter page @IOMPoliceDogs It was pointed out that the island also had a mountain, Snaefell, and it has gone on from there. Sgt Ian Kelly of the Dog Unit said “Combating and dealing robustly with Domestic Violence is a priority for the Isle of Man Police and the support functions of the other agencies mentioned are an absolute necessity in the combined fight to protect victims. No person should live in fear in their own home”.
Attending the “saunter” up Snaefell, amongst others, will be the dog unit, members of the Isle of Man Constabulary’s senior command team, prison dog handler, members of SARDA…
Victim Support Manager Paula Gelling & one of the Volunteers will be joining Eve in the trek. Paula said “When I heard about this walk, I immediately wanted to join in and help out, where I can. I felt it was important to highlight the scale of domestic abuse everywhere, not just on the island. This is an opportunity to support Eve in her fundraising effort and to demonstrate that Victim Support and other agencies such as the Police and Women’s Aid, will assist ALL victims of Domestic Abuse and will strive for the safety of all victims and their children. Victim Support provide non-judgemental, emotional support and practical help as well as supporting witnesses in Court”. To help reduce her costs Eve is being hosted by Paula whilst on the Island.
If you would like to support Eve on her trek you can donate at the website http://www.justgiving.com/Eve-Thomas.
Victim Support can be contacted on 679950 or by email iomvictimsupport@manx.net.
