Inside Britain's first refuge for male victims of domestic violence

Article here. Excerpt:

'One resident will ­forever carry the scars from near-fatal stab wounds, while another sits silently in the corner with a face etched with fear.

Both have fled to this safe house to escape violent partners. Both have done so in fear of their lives and — shockingly — both are men: members of a growing band of British male domestic abuse victims.

Jay is a soft-spoken, gentle, 22-year-old labourer from Cardiff who was repeatedly punched by his 32-year-old girlfriend. He tells me he’d be on the streets if it wasn’t for the help he’s getting here now.

‘People don’t think men get hit, but we do. People don’t think men suffer, but we do,’ he tells me.

‘At first I didn’t speak about the violence because of the stigma, but in the end I did and it was social ­services who helped me come here. I had nowhere else to go.’

The ‘here’ is an unremarkable looking ­terrace house in a valley in Powys, midWales.

Founded in 2006, it houses Britain’s first refuge exclusively for men and their ­children fleeing violent partners.

There are 4,000 refuge places for women in Britain, and only 20 for men, most of them at this centre run by the Montgomery ­Family Crisis Centre.
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'We’ve had a man who was deliberately run over by his partner,’ Jane says sadly.

‘Other men who had been stabbed, men with severe head injuries, burns and ­slashes . . . to name but a few.’

More than 400 men have asked for refuge here. Often it is police who tell them about the ­refuge while they’re recovering in hospital. ­Residents have come from as far afield as London, Devon, Lancashire and Nottingham and have included a judge, several policemen, and Army veterans.'