“Am I going to be one of those statistics”, was an anonymous comment made by a participant in Professor Pain’s study as they discussed the possibility of being assaulted in a park.
A member of the Heaton Harriers running club, Jacqueline Turner, runs with the group after being attacked while out running in August 2017, "There was a random man standing in the road and he deliberately pushed me over, got me into the road and kicked me while I was on the ground… One of the police officers actually said to me, 'you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time'… I just thought, 'I'm about 400m from my front door - where is the right place to be?'"
One of the police officers actually said to me, 'you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time'… I just thought, 'I'm about 400m from my front door - where is the right place to be?'"
Professor Pain’s study was about the safety of women in parks across the North-East, showing that, somewhat unsurprisingly, women have a reason for feeling unsafe when in parks, especially at night, with over 100 incidents reported in a one-year period at Saltwell park in Gateshead (114 violent incidents), Leazes park in Newcastle (141 violent incidents) and Mowbray park in Sunderland (187 violent incidents) all including Sexual offences and rapes.
The story of women‘s safety in the UK is a long and complicated one, of which Sarah Everard is a prime example, having been over a year since her death and the streets being no safer for women. The same goes for Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman both of whom also died last year in parks as a result of violence against women in our country, a country where 3 women a week die as a result of domestic violence. Despite continued discussions on women’s safety and incidents like these highlighting the issues to the public, women’s safety is still a major issue for which there has not been an appropriate solution enacted.
Kim McGuiness, Northumbria police and crime commissioner, responded to Professor Pain’s study with promises to combat behaviour, mainly large gatherings of men and boys, that were making women uncomfortable, however, no meaningful change has been seen so far.
A new Newcastle University study finds that women are not safe in parks across the North-East and have a right to be worried when venturing through them. Unfortunately, this is not so surprising for women in the North-East, nor is it surprising throughout the country as the cases of violent crime against women have continued to rise since 2018, it is, as another anonymous participant stated, “part of being a woman in England.”