Woman who was victim of terrifying hostage ordeal says she’s living in fear after ex-partner’s release
Sadie suffers flashbacks of the worst night of her life whenever she smells petrol.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of abuse some readers may find distressing
The scene she describes sounds like something from a horror film – but it was her reality.
She was held hostage in her own home by her then-husband who had their son held at knifepoint. He had doused her home in fuel, with a lighter in his hand, while their young daughter was asleep in the property.
A decade of coercive control had culminated in this.
Sadie (not her real name) feels let down by police after she’d previously reported her partner’s abuse – and she’s not alone.
Victims of domestic abuse say they’re being failed by a criminal justice system which isn’t working.
Prosecutions for domestic abuse-related crimes are down by 45% since 2015 in England and Wales, while thousands of protective orders – designed to prevent perpetrators from contacting victims – are being breached.
Police and prosecutors are now trying to fix the problem – but can it be resolved?
During her marriage, Sadie’s partner installed cameras in their house to monitor her, locked the family inside the property and regularly turned up unannounced at her work – even hiding in the boot of her car.
“If I went shopping, he would time me,” she says. “I’d have to video call him when going round the supermarket.”
After 10 years of her husband’s controlling behaviour, Sadie found the strength to end their relationship.
He was warned not to come back to the family home after being arrested for harassing her, and then released on bail – but he was undeterred.
One evening, Sadie was sat on the sofa watching TV with her son when she saw her ex approaching the house.
Stood in the door frame, he was armed with weapons and petrol so she called the police.
“When he saw the blue lights, he went absolutely crackers,” she says.
Pic: iStock
Her ex warned that if Sadie had called the emergency services “we’re all going to die tonight”.
“He poured petrol all over the hallway, all the way up the stairs, all the way up the landing,” she says.
“He dragged me and my son into the front bedroom.”
Knife held to boy’s throat
Sadie was screaming, she was petrified. He’d threatened before but it felt different this time.
Hours went by before she tried to escape with her son but her ex grabbed him and held a knife to the boy’s throat.
Stood by the front door, she says police officers pulled her out of the property – but her son was still trapped inside.
In tears, she says: “That’s the guilt I have to live with. I always think that he thinks… I left him.”
The ordeal lasted several more hours before her children were released.
Sadie’s ex was arrested and eventually went to prison for his actions. He was sentenced to just under six years in jail with an indefinite restraining order. But even from prison, he tried to continue to harass her.
Sadie says her ex-partner even hid in the boot of her car during his abusive behaviour. Illustration: Rebecca Hendin
He wrote letters and attempted to call her. Once her address was blocked, he’d write to friends and rang neighbours.
He’s now out of prison on licence and Sadie says she’s living in fear.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be free,” she says. “It’s always in the back of my mind. I’m scared. Especially now he’s released.
“Am I going to bump into him? Is he going to contact? Is he going to contact the kids?”
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Sharp rise in victims seeking criminal justice advice
Sadie says she reported some of her ex-husband’s abuse to the police over the years but she didn’t feel it was taken seriously.
She believes things could have been different if warnings were heeded.
According to data shared exclusively with Sky News, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline recorded a 40% rise in victims seeking advice about the criminal justice system between 2020 and 2023.
The Charity Refuge, which runs the helpline and is the largest specialist domestic violence charity in the UK, says this reflects a weakening sense of survivor trust in the system – as they’re instead turning to help from charities.
At a domestic violence support group meeting, other women share their experiences of domestic abuse.
They all say the system doesn’t work and that they’re penalised. Some have lost their homes with the abuser living in it. Others have had their children taken from them and told they’d made bad relationship choices.
One woman said the trauma of her abuse is in her head “constantly… every second of every day”.
Another woman says she watches out the window at night, even though she knows her ex is in prison.
Police and prosecutors taking new approach
The feeling of never being able to escape their abuse is a familiar one.
Deborah Jones, who runs the charity Resolute, says protective orders are “not worth the paper they’re written on”.
“A molestation order is not going protect a woman from domestic abuse, when they have fled domestic abuse,” she says.
“No piece of paper is going to do that.”
Deborah Jones (R), who runs the charity Resolute, with Sky’s Mollie Malone
Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are now launching a “Joint Justice” plan to try and change their approach.
It involves a commitment to better collaboration on evidence from the outset to improve charge and conviction rates, as well as reducing the amount of time cases take to get through the system.
They also want to enforce an earlier and stronger use of protective orders for victims. There are various different types issued by the courts to prevent perpetrators from making contact or harassing their victims. But thousands of them are being breached every year.
Read more:
Meet the woman furnishing homes for domestic abuse survivors
Domestic abuse survivors met their ex-partners – here’s what happened
The Joint Justice framework wants to provide more consistent support for victims throughout the process – from reporting their abuse to their case in court.
New technology is also being trialled to make it easier for victims.
At West Midlands Police, there is a specialist domestic abuse desk. Calls get triaged there from the main call centre – and the victim can have a phone call with a specialist officer on phone camera technology. That acts as early video evidence, to save repetitive statements and marked police cars turning up at the home.
West Midlands Police has a specialist domestic abuse desk
There were more than two million reported victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales last year. The government says domestic abuse should be treated as a “national priority” crime – the same as terrorism.
‘Problem is too big’
Assistant Met Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, who is the national lead for domestic abuse, says victims aren’t being fully served by police and prosecutors at the moment “because the problem is too big”.
“I so desperately want to improve what we do,” she adds.
“It’s really important that we understand the scale of this. It is more than 10% of emergency calls to policing. It’s more than a third of violent crime. It’s a huge priority for policing.”
Assistant Met Commissioner Louisa Rolfe is the national lead for domestic abuse
Kate Brown, from the CPS, says authorities need to “do better” and she has concerns about the drop in domestic abuse cases in courts as she wants offenders to see “just outcomes” for their crimes.
“We’re prosecutors, we want to see more of these cases,” she adds.
Kate Brown from the CPS
For Sadie, it’s about support and being taken seriously.
“I had 10 years of abuse that nothing was ever done about,” she says.
“People used to say to me, something bad will happen. That will be the only way you’ll ever get out of it. And it did.”
A spokesman for the police force involved in Sadie’s case said: “Nobody in our communities should live in fear of domestic violence.
“We remain steadfastly committed to continuously improving our work in this area. That has included delivering bespoke training for a large proportion of our workforce.”
:: Sadie is a pseudonym to protect her identity
Former Commons leader Lucy Powell has been crowned Labour’s new deputy leader in a closely fought race against Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Ms Powell received 87,407 votes to Ms Phillipson’s 73,536 – a majority of 13,871 – in a contest that was widely perceived as a referendum on Sir Keir Starmer’s popularity with the membership.
Ms Powell was seen as the “anti-Starmer” candidate given she was sacked from cabinet just last month, and centred her campaign on being an independent voice for the backbenches.
Politics live: Follow for updates as Labour names new deputy leader
Ms Phillipson was seen as Number 10’s preferred option, and she had pitched herself as the “unity candidate”, warning that voting for her opponent would result in “internal debate and divisions that leads us back to opposition”.
However speaking to Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby following the result, Ms Powell insisted she would be a “friend” to the prime minister, adding: “I am confident we can work well together.”
She said she was not here to “write an alternative policy platform” but rather “to make sure Labour values and beliefs are right at the heart of the conversation, and that we’re giving a really clear sense of who we’re for”.
Ms Powell’s earlier victory speech made clear where she thought Labour was going wrong, and what she would challenge the government on.
The Manchester Central MP said Labour “won’t win by trying to out-Reform Reform, but by building a broad progressive consensus”.
She said that started with “wrestling back the political megaphone” from Reform leader Nigel Farage, and “setting the agenda more strongly”.
“Let’s be honest, we’ve let Farage and his ilk run away with it. He wants to blame immigration for all the country’s problems. We reject that,” she said.
“Our diagnosis is different, that for too long the country and the economy has worked in the interests of the few, not the many.”
The reference to “for the many not the few” – the slogan during Jeremy Corbyn’s time at the helm, was not lost on his then shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
The veteran left-winger said on X: “The Labour Party members have spoken & the message is clear, they want change. It’s good to see a return to references to the Labour Party serving once more the many not the few & that Labour must not try out Reform, Reform. Our members realise a new start is desperately needed.”
‘Unwanted deputy imposed on PM’
The deputy leadership role is important as it’s the key connection between the Labour members and the upper echelons of the Labour Party.
The race was triggered by the sudden departure of Angela Rayner, after she admitted to underpaying stamp duty.
The scandal sparked a reshuffle in which Ms Powell was one of the only casualties. It makes the new partnership potentially very awkward for Sir Keir, especially as his new deputy will be free to speak out against his policies from the back benches rather than being bound by collective responsibility like Ms Phillipson.
However in a possible olive branch, Sky News understands Ms Powell will be asked to attend political cabinet meetings, even though she will not officially be a member of cabinet.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said “weak Keir Starmer” has had an unwanted deputy leader “imposed on him by the Labour Party”, adding: “The failure of the Keir Starmer candidate, Bridget Philipson, is another defeat of the prime minister’s authority.”
Turnout for the vote was low – just 16.6%, suggesting a lack of enthusiasm among party members and its affiliates.
Sir Keir congratulated Ms Powell after the results were announced, saying she “has always been a proud defender of Labour values, and that is exactly what we need at this moment”.
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PM: Powell is ‘a proud defender of Labour values’
He echoed some of her language around immigration, as he attacked the Tories for this week suggesting they supported a policy to deport people who have settled in the UK legally, something Reform UK has advocated.
“That is what we’re up against on the right of politics, a politics of division and grievance that wants to take this great country to a very dark place”, Sir Keir said.
PM warns of ‘battle for the soul of our nation’
The prime minister is under pressure as the party plummets in the polls, with many MPs on the left predicting he could be gone by May if the local elections go badly.
Sir Keir acknowledged Labour is having a difficult time after it lost the Caerphilly by-election to Plaid Cymru on Thursday.
He said it was a “bad result” and “a reminder that people need to look out their window and see change and renewal in their community, opportunities for their children, public services rebuilt, the cost of living crisis tackled”.
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Phillipson ‘disappointed to lose’
“We must unite. We must keep our focus on what is, in my view, the defining battle for the soul of our nation. I know that Lucy will do just that,” he said.
Saturday’s result is the culmination of a six week contest, with the pair having had to secure nominations from 80 MPs in the first round and then win the backing of 5% of local parties or Labour affiliated groups before making it to the final vote.
Initially six candidates entered, but it quickly became a two-horse race as only Ms Powell and Ms Phillipson reached the 80 threshold, following claims from the left of a “stitch up”.
Ms Phillipson said she was “disappointed to lose” but Ms Powell “has my full support”.
She added: “What we all need to do now is unite this party, beat Reform and secure that second term Labour government.”
UK
How many prisoners are released by mistake? Here are the stats as search for migrant sex offender continues
The manhunt for a migrant who sexually assaulted a schoolgirl, and was released from prison in error, is ongoing.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months earlier this year after he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping.
He had been staying in the Bell Hotel in Epping and his arrest triggered large-scale protests and disorder.
The Ethiopian national, who came to the UK on a small boat in the summer, is now being searched for by the police after he was accidentally freed on Friday.
Follow the latest updates on the manhunt
Hadush Kebatu, jailed for two sexual assaults in Epping. Pic: Essex Police / PA
How many prisoners are released in error?
According to government statistics published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the 12 months to March 2025 – a 128% increase from 115 the previous year.
The report states: “Of the 262 releases in error, 233 of these releases in error occurred from prison establishments, while 29 were released in error at the courts.
“Releases in error from establishments could also be a result of errors by the court.”
This is out of a total prison population across England and Wales of roughly 86,000.
Sky News has contacted the HM Prison & Probation Service to know how many of the 262 prisoners have since been found and returned to custody.
In September 2024, Sky News reported how dozens of people released from jail under the government’s emergency prison scheme were freed by mistake.
The Labour government said it was forced to release hundreds of inmates early because prisons were at capacity.
William Fernandez. Pic: PA
Kebatu, who is thought to be in the London area, was due to be deported when he was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday.
Previous high-profile manhunts
William Fernandez, who was awaiting trial for sexual assault, was released from HMP Wormwood by error in March 2021. He then went on to rape a 16-year-old girl and sexually assault a young woman.
Joseph McCann. Pic: Police handout
In December 2019, the prisons and probation service “apologised unreservedly” after serial rapist Joseph McCann was freed to commit a series of sex attacks on women and children.
In July 2017, an inmate who was released from prison just months into a nine-year sentence due to a “clerical error” was arrested after weeks on the run.
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