Next time you ask ‘why doesn’t she just leave?’ – remember this picture “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Never has this saying been more painfully true than when you’re confronted with […]

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Never has this saying been more painfully true than when you’re confronted with the shocking image taken by a police officer on a domestic abuse call-out in London, shared on Twitter by Inspector Rowlands of the Metropolitan Police.

Big, sharp knives are deliberately stuck on either side of every step. There appears to be a bullet on the floor. It is an utterly chilling scene.

i's opinion newsletter: talking points from today Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

We don’t who the woman is. We don’t know who her abuser is. But, as the Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, I can tell you now what this picture represents: it is the almost universal barrier to leaving a violent and abusive partner that so many women face.

Invisible prisons

Women don’t leave because they are afraid, and with good reason. This picture shows clearly the very real threat to life that escaping domestic abuse represents. The knives symbolise that threat: “If you try to leave, I will hurt you. If you try and flee down these stairs, I will stab you.”

This is why many women are unable to leave: fear for their own life or their children’s lives. The Femicide Census proved that women are at significant risk when they try to break free of an abusive man.

Seventy-six per cent of women killed by their ex-partner or ex-spouse between 2009 and 2015 were killed within the first year that followed separation.

Remember, for many survivors of domestic abuse there are knives that line their route to freedom. They might not be physical – but they are there.

Domestic abuse is an invisible prison. So the next time the question is asked, “Why doesn’t she just leave?” – remember this picture.

Polly Neate is Chief Executive of Women’s Aid