Justice 4 victims of serial domestic abusers

My name is Zoe Dronfield. On the 2nd of February 2014 I was meant to be dead. Murdered. This could have been avoided and my case is not unusual, police are missing patterns and escalation in offenders behaviour as they still do not join the dots. 

My perpetrator was known to police. One of his previous victims a current serving police officer warned her employers of how dangerous he is however it was not dealt with. Instead his offending was minimised.

We estimate that we are victim number 3 and now number 16 of this serial perpetrator of domestic violence who was eventually charged with attempted murder and convicted of GBH with intent in 2015.

My attacker had 13 more victims that we knew about at the time of press

10 years earlier victim number 3 who is a serving police officer made reports to the police against him of serious domestic violence including burglary, assaults, witness intimidation, false imprisonment and rape which occurred whilst her children were present however we believe the police failed to adequately investigate these serious offences and also believe they have questions to answer relating to the investigation of these serious offences.

The lack of investigation into these serious offences resulted in the perpetrator's behaviour going undetected and was allowed to escalate to almost murder which would have destroyed my family; my children would have been separated at 4 & 8 years old and motherless.

I was held hostage for over 8 hours. I was tortured. I had 15 separate injuries. I was stamped on until my head was so swollen my face was unrecognisable. I had a bleed on the brain. I was stabbed and slashed numerous times. I had stab defence wounds to my hands from trying to protect my face.

I survived an 8 hour attack at the hands on my ex-boyfriend

Also while I was home recovering from this ordeal, the perpetrator was continuing to abuse and threaten me from prison with a smuggled phone. I text his father and sister asking them to tell him to stop and the police threatened ME with arrest and I was interviewed under caution for harassment.  How is this treatment of victims helpful or even fair?! 

Zoe speaks out after police interview her over claims she harassed her attackers family

We should never have gone through our ordeals had the appropriate action been taken on the information about his offending. There were many complaints made to police spanning over a decade.

We believe that the police failed in their duty to fully investigate matters reported and had the reports made by victim 3 been fully prosecuted, victims 4-16 would potentially never have been abused by him as he may have been serving a long custodial sentence. 

The failings of the police almost resulted in my death and have had a devastating physical and psychological impact on all of us.

We believe that the police need to be held to account for these failings in the hope that this will result in a change of police practice for all victims of domestic violence and save lives as 2 women a week are killed by their ex partners in England and Wales.

The police have got to start talking domestic violence seriously and we believe that holding them to account is the only way to force change upon them.

We intend to issue proceedings in the High Court against the police in order to do this but need help with the court fees. 

The police initial response to our letter before action is shocking and it is clear that their attitude is yet to change.

Our legal team believe that we have a strong case, if we can raise the money we need this legal case could have far reaching implications in helping thousands of women failed by the police get compensation and more importantly force a change in attitude and practice from the police who will finally be held to account.

If successful this legal case will have far-reaching implications as it will pave the way for other victims who have been failed by the police to get justice. Importantly we believe that the success of this case will force the police to radically change their practice resulting in proper investigations and therefore increased prosecutions of domestic violence cases. Perpetrators will be taken off the street and women and children will be safe. 

Countless enquiries into domestic violence failings result in the same old apologies whereas holding them to account through the court will force change by imposing financial penalties on them.

Please donate what you can to help this important fight for justice for victims of domestic abuse who have been failed for too long - together we can change things!

Thank you.

#serialregisterneeded

Funds will be used to cover court costs, expert witness fees, expert witness court appearances.

Any unallocated funds at the end of this campaign will be donated to Paladin the National Stalking Advocacy Service