Merseyside’s male violence problem
And the women’s-only club night providing refuge. Plus: unpacking the council’s repurchase of a failed Chinatown development site
Dear readers — We hope you and yours made it through Storm Darragh unscathed. Over here at Post HQ, we’re mostly bummed about rained-out weekend plans. Was anyone else showing friends from out of town around the Christmas markets on Saturday when all hell broke loose? (Solidarity, if so.) Perhaps most painful of all was the cancellation of the Liverpool Disco Festival. We’ve been robbed of a chance to see the iconic 80s soul and disco band Change, plus disco-house legend DJ Dave Lee! Luckily, a rescheduled date for the summer is said to be in the works…though that means a lot more winter weather to get through in the meantime.
Editor’s note: We’ve got big things planned for the end of the year and early 2025. Both Laurence and Abi are deep in the reporting process of major investigations – one of which will be dropping later this week. The best way to assure we’re able to continue holding power to account is by supporting us with a paid membership. If you’re already a subscriber (thank you!), why not give the gift of high-quality local journalism to a family member or friend? You can purchase someone else a subscription, and set it to kick in at Christmas, by pressing the button below.
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The big story: Does Merseyside have a problem with male violence?
Top line: A Wirral charity has organised a women’s-only club night to provide women with a safe space to enjoy a night out free from the ever-prevalent spectre of male harassment. These kinds of events’ creations – and the massive blowback they tend to inspire – speak to the complications surrounding efforts to tackle the epidemic of violence against women.
Context: Last week, ITV Granada Reports journalist Anna Youssef attempted to conduct a typical television news interview in Birkenhead Park. Gill Jones was telling her about a family night out that had resulted in a violent brawl after a man tried to sexually assault her daughter, Beth Fletcher. The interview was to be part of a story about Tomorrow’s Women, a charity dedicated to creating more women’s safe spaces.
However, a stranger had other ideas. Moments after the interview began, a man — who ITV have anonymised — walked into the shot and sat on the park bench between Jones and Youssef. After the journalist explained to him that they were filming about a charity, and asked if he could wait a few minutes or perhaps occupy one of the empty benches nearby, the man reportedly became verbally aggressive and threatening. For the safety of the interviewees and crew, the group decided to discontinue the interview and leave the area.
Apart from embarrassing Birkenhead residents, the incident serves as an ironic illustration of why the charity exists in the first place. Unfortunately, for many women, the experience of a man entering their personal space and refusing to leave will be all too familiar.
Tomorrow’s Women’s research showed that 82% of women do not feel safe in bars or clubs, with 93% not feeling safe being out alone at night. This is what led them to partner with One For the Girls Events — a women’s music collective — to create Women in Dance Music, a female-only charity fundraiser club night hosted by Birkenhead’s Future Yard on 3 December. According to ITV, after announcing Women in Dance Music, the charity attracted hundreds of hate comments online.
The event is one of several that have raised the question of violence against women on Merseyside. Last month, women’s services from all over the region gathered outside Liverpool Crown in Derby Square for a candlelight vigil to remember the city’s women lost to male violence. One of the speakers, Julie Dale, made a plea for an end to violence against women and girls. Julie’s daughter Ashley was just 28 when she was shot dead by gangster James Witham during a home invasion in 2022.
The vigil, held on 25th November — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls — was attended by multiple advocacy groups, including RASA Merseyside, which supports the mental well-being of individuals impacted by sexual violence through professional counselling and support.
For years, RASA was based not far from the crime that inspired its founding. In August 1986, 21-year-old florist Diane Sindall was murdered on Borough Road by Peter Sullivan, a man who had stopped to ask her the time before being seized by a "sudden desire to kill", in his own words. News of the extent of Sindall’s injuries sent shockwaves through the Wirral and led to the creation of the Wirral Rape Crisis Counselling Service, later known as RASA, in 1987. A year later, a black memorial stone was laid on the grass verge where she died, reading "Diane Sindall. Murdered August 2, 1986, because she was a woman. In memory of all our sisters who have been raped and murdered. We will never let it be forgotten."
Sullivan — who became known as the Beast of Birkenhead — was found guilty of Sindall’s murder in November 1987 and given a life sentence. Recently, however, Sullivan lodged an appeal against his conviction, reviving the memory of the horrifying crime and the issue of male violence once more. The very fact that RASA and other women’s groups now exist suggests things have improved on Merseyside since. But the pressure can be tremendous — at any time, RASA, which now has offices Bootle, supports around 600 victims of sexual violence.
In September this year, Merseyside Police said it was “staggered” to learn that of 4,000 women it consulted, 71% still lived in fear of sexual assault and 69% said they would not report such an incident to the police. Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell, who also arranged the 25th November vigil, told the BBC the statistics were “hard-hitting” and “show the scale of the issue right here in Merseyside.”
Bottom line: The very concept of gender-segregated nightclubs, and gender segregation in general, is a somewhat controversial one, even among women and feminists. (Check out an upcoming story on queer club nights in our sister publication, The Londoner, for more on that topic.) But they also speak to a very real necessity for public spaces free from not only male violence, but violence of any kind. More women’s-only events on Merseyside can provide a welcome respite from stressful nights out for women of all ages, but it’s up to the area’s major stakeholders, from the council to Merseyside Police, to address the root of the problem: the shocking scale and extent of violence against women, which all too often goes unreported.
Home of the week
This is one we’ve got our eyes on if we ever win big on the Thunderball…
Located in Eccleston Park, this five bedroom Victorian house has two lounges and a bedroom with a bath overlooking its wrap-around gardens. If that’s not enough to sell you on its charm, its wooden floors and exposed brick fireplace certainly boast character. It’s on the market for £750,0000 — take a tour here.
Your Post briefing
Liverpool City Council has bought back the site of a failed Chinatown development for twice the amount it was originally sold for. Back in 2015, the council sold three plots of land near Chinatown to The Great George Street Project, a company operated by the now notorious developer North Point Global (NPG). NPG paid nearly £5 million for the land, and had grand plans to build a £200 million housing scheme there. As is so often the case in Liverpool, this failed to materialise.
After facing allegations of fraud, NPG director Lee Spencer was disqualified from being a director until 2031, and in March 2023 he was found guilty of failing to preserve company accounting records and given a 24-month suspended sentence. Avid Post readers may also remember Abi’s investigation into NPG’s connections to the Banksy artworks that mysteriously disappeared from the city, promised to be returned in the form of a “street art museum” as part of that same Chinatown development. Instead, they were all sold to an anonymous buyer in Qatar for £3 million in 2017.
After all that drama, Liverpool City Council has now decided to buy back the land given to NPG in 2015, at the cost of around £10 million. According to cabinet member Nick Small, the land is “strategically important” and the council must be able to “influence what happened with the land". Lib Dem leader Carl Cashman has a different take. "Yet again taxpayers are paying for Labour's incompetence, both in the present and in the past," he told the BBC.
On the grapevine: the Eldonian Community Trust, the charity set up in the Eldonian Village to support its residents, is on the hunt for some new trustees. We covered the Trust in a piece published earlier this year, after the Charity Commission launched an investigation into the charity when concerns were raised about its governance. That news came nearly a year on from Jack’s landmark investigation into the Eldonian Village, which explored how so many of the village’s assets were being sold off to a mysterious company overseas. Now, The Post has been contacted by the Trust with an offer to become a member or a trustee of the charity. We’re not sure we’re best placed to take them up on that offer…
And work has finally begun to create wetlands between two towns on the Wirral. Earlier this year, the council awarded over £400,000 of flood management funds to both West Kirkby and Hoylake to create a new wetland across Hoylake Carrs. Over the next three years, ponds, grassland and marsh will be created to help protect the towns from flood damage, acting as part of a new nature reserve to attract tourists. According to a briefing to councillors, flood water will be held back by a small “lip” around the edge of the land, with ponds and ditches incorporated to provide a home for wildfowl. It is thought the new development will help support wildlife in the Dee Estuary, which is an internationally important habitat for migrating birds.
Post Picks
🍷On Wednesday, Manny’s Market in Birkenhead is offering a delicious Christmas-themed wine tasting. As always, nibbles are included. Find out more here.
🎅On Thursday, Great Sankey High School is hosting a Christmas concert with performances from its students. There’s also a raffle and refreshments on offer, with doors opening at 6pm. Buy a ticket here.
🎄On Saturday, theatre company GINIFICENT is putting on their take of A Christmas Carol at St George’s Hall. It’s the perfect setting for the beloved ghost story in our eyes — grab a ticket here before it sells out.
😂Or, if theatre isn’t your thing, enjoy a comedy special with Sara Pascoe, Tim Key, Josh Pugh, and Sophie Duker at Liverpool Olympia. This one has Abi’s stamp of approval — she might just be the biggest Tim Key fan of them all…
Recommended reads
A recommended watch and listen, to shake things up a little. Poet, performer and our good friend Roy has released a new single with Liverpool artist God Colony. We’ve had it on repeat all weekend — give it a go here.
“It could be said eight violins, four violas, four cellos, three trumpets, three trombones, two guitars, and a choir of fourteen women were what finally broke up The Beatles.” This fascinating piece by the BBC over the weekend looks at over 300 pages of legal papers that document the band’s downfall.
"Merseyside Police said it was “staggered” to learn that of 4,000 women it consulted, 71% still lived in fear of sexual assault and 69% said they would not report such an incident to the police."
A damning indictment of the society in which we live.
A few years ago I went to an open day ad Liverpool courts where they were explaining how the police and justice system would respond to allegations of sexula support, at the end of which I told them that the experience had put me off reporting such incidents.
They were alarmed and cautioned me when I said that if it happened to me I would arrange justice myself.
Police commissioner recently attended some event highlighting 'honour' based violence.
However if a 'Reclaim the Night' series of marches started up - to oppose the rising numbers of sexual assaults and violence against men and women - the police would not be supporting it.
As we see with the local courts - one crime in particular - that of possessing child porn, seems to be dealt with in a lenient manner.
Maybe the higher ups are not higher in the morality stakes.
Women in the UK, for all the hard work in respect to exposing and opposing sexual violence, seem to be getting dragged back to a situation in which the authorities treat thought crimes with more seriousness than they do actual crimes.
One rape in Liverpool Royal Hospital car park, Sept 2022 - had the Echo present a two word description of the suspect....
'A stranger'.
No updates ever given.