Mother's day protest

While millions of families celebrated Mother's Day in a host of traditional ways, the mother-of-two was among a group of women who gathered in London to highlight the cases of those placed in a variety of horrific and exceptional circumstances.

The event, at the Crossroads Women's Centre in London, was headed by Sarah Keays, one of the most famous single mothers in the country.

She continues to fight the gagging order imposed on her she gave birth to the love child of ex-Tory minister, Cecil Parkinson.

Also present was Maureen Church has been campaigning for justice on behalf of her son, Gary, and others killed at the Hillsborough Football Stadium disaster.

Sara was forced to flee 200 miles from Bolton to escape a violent partner, as a result, she claims, of the Child Support Agency.

Others included an Asylum Seeker, and mothers with disabilities.

The event was organised by the Single Mothers' Self-Defence group. A spokesman explained: "This is in response to the concerted Government attacks on mothers.

"The group is supported by almost 100 organisations throughout the UK and will be presenting its opposition to the Government Green Paper 'Child Support, a New Approach', which we feel would invite more violence against single mothers."

How I escaped my life of hell By Beverly Greenberg When mum Sara realised she had to get away from her violent partner SARA was breast feeding her baby when her partner grabbed her ankle, twisted it and dragged her off the settee.

At that point the young mother realised she had to leave her violent partner - before he killed them both.

Sara had been beaten on the head with a hammer, almost strangled, slapped and punched until she was black and blue . . . but as soon as she realised her child was at risk, she left.

And so began a chain of chillingly frightening events which eventually saw her flee 200 miles back to her Bolton roots, from her nightmare existence in London.

The mother of two young daughters, two years on, now lives in Bolton, the town in which she was born, still looking over her shoulder, and still too frightened to divulge too much of her past to the people she meets.

But the defiant 29-year-old is keen to publicise her story to help others in a similar position to escape not only a bullying, violent partner, but the Government bodies, who she claims prey on the vulnerability of a frightened mother.

Not alone

In fact, it was only when she read an article in the Bolton Evening News that Sara realised she was not alone. It was through the columns of the newspaper that she eventually found the help to beat the system which had continually done nothing but drag her down.

Sara said: "I just hope that my story will be able to help another person in the way in which the BEN helped me two years ago."

Her story began when she left Bolton College to take a job in London about five years ago. There, she met her partner. She said: "There was never an inkling he could be violent and it was not until 12 months later that he first started.

"He would do small things, like a little slap, or he would push me."

But after Sara had their first daughter, the violence began to escalate. She said: "He tried to strangle me with his bare hands. Once he smashed a hammer into my head. It fractured my skull and I had to spend time in hospital.

"Another time I was walking down the stairs carrying the baby and he began throwing his weightlifting equipment at me.

"I constantly had cracked ribs and black eyes. But all the time, I kept thinking I somehow must have deserved these things that he was doing to me.

"He also dealt out mental cruelty. If he was going out, he would lock me in the flat. We had a cordless telephone and he would take that with him."

However, the final straw came while Sara was breast feeding her child. She said: "He twisted my ankle and pulled me off the settee. I then realised he could kill us both.

"I am about seven and a half stone, he is about 14 stone and a fitness fanatic."

Frightened for her life, Sara fled with her child to a women's refuge, unaware she was pregnant with her second daughter. She got an injunction out against the partner, and an eviction notice so she could move back into the flat.

But the threats did not stop. She said: "I would get telephone calls late at night and he would come knocking at the door. The police would come but he was never charged, just told to move away and behave himself.

"He always came back, or he would send a friend round to threaten me, or my family."

Sara moved to another part of London, but he managed to track her down. She said: "He would follow me while I did my shopping, or often I would find him waiting for me around a corner. He threatened to kill us. He said he would come around while we were sleeping and burn the house down."

Frightened

And it was at that point that the Child Support Agency also began to get involved. Sara said: "They tried to force me to divulge details about him. I was frightened and explained to them I did not want to make him angry. They knew about our past, but threatened that they would cut off my income support if I did not help them.

"It was the first time in my life that I had ever needed to be on benefits. I did not realise they had no right to stop my money."

Sara's fears were almost immediately realised. Almost as soon as the CSA contacted her partner, he called round to her flat. She said: "He hammered on my door, but I would not open it. He shouted for me to come to the window. I did, carrying our child, and he threw a brick directly at us. Fortunately it missed."

The following week Sara decided to stay for a short while in the women's refuge. When she returned to her flat, she discovered he had broken in and smashed up everything she had left behind.

She said: "All the furniture, wall units and photographs were smashed. The mattress on my bed was also slashed.

"He also even punctured the washer waste pipe."

It was at that point that Sara realised she was pregnant with their second child. She moved flat again, he found her once more, and she got yet another injunction. She said: "By the end of 12 months, I was a nervous wreck, too frightened to move out of my house."

At that point, she decided to leave London and return to Bolton. Without telling a soul, she and the children fled 200 miles back North.

Sara said: "I did not tell anyone where I was going. But one month after arriving here, the CSA contacted me about the paternity of my second child. Again, I explained the situation. They still tried to press me into giving details to them."

It was then that Sara read an article in the BEN which helped transform her life. She explained: "I read about a woman in a similar situation and that she had found help with the group, Legal Action for Women. I got in touch with the number given and they helped me write a letter to the CSA.

"I have been in Bolton about two years now and have rebuilt my life. I go to college part-time and have gained a lot of strength. I am lucky my children were too young to remember any of what happened, and are happy and well balanced."

Sara's family has moved back from London to be with her. She said: "He could not get to me so he threatened them.

"We are just a normal family who had the usual ups and downs. But nothing like this ever happened. Even when I look back now, I realise I could not have seen it coming. I never really knew him. He had a history of violence which I never even knew about."

Anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation should contact Legal Action for Women on 0161 344 0758.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.