Never too late to leave an abusive relationship

So Gillian Taylforth has left her violent partner, Geoff Knights, after 23 years. That takes one hell of a lot of courage, because - leaving the physical damage aside for one moment - when you are living in a regime where there is a constant atmosphere of mental abuse - and when you are conditioned to believe that you are in part responsible for the abuser behaving this way - your self-esteem can be drained to the point where you can't find the inner strength to take even the smallest step towards changing your situation.

Reading through the comments on the News of the World's website, I was pleased to see the messages of support for Gillian. Though not everyone was supportive. A minority of respondents vented fury that she had stuck by Knights all this time and a couple of the replies were downright offensive.

Yes, Gillian has endured a sickening catalogue of abuse for far too long. We all agree on that. But so do many, many women. And I fully recognise that it's not just women who are affected by domestic violence, but they do make up the vast majority of victims. Actually I'm not that keen on the use of the word, 'domestic', because in my opinion, it weakens the emphasis on the word 'violence.' It's outright violence, isn't it? Pure and simple. Yet the courts repeatedly deliver lesser sentences to perpetrators of this type of crime, than if they'd set about a stranger in the street. This is equally as bad, if not worse, because the partners these deviants systematically inflict harm on, they claim to love.

Some of you reading now this will be in Gill Taylforth's former situation. Or perhaps you know someone who is. I do.

Annie has been married to Richard (not their real names) for around the same time Gillian was with Geoff Knights. They have three kids. We only found out he'd been knocking her about when she threw him out of the house for punching their 14-year-old daughter. The CPS decided to prosecute. Richard pleaded guilty and received a suspended sentence. Meanwhile, four weeks before Christmas, Annie went to court and got an injunction against Richard, to prevent him coming near the family. In theory, that is. In reality, it's just a scrap of paper.

So how did Richard wheedle his way back into their lives? He had one thing going for him. Richard held the family's purse strings. He told Annie the kids wouldn't have a Christmas unless she took him back. No presents. No celebrations. How bad would that make her feel? Did she really want to be responsible for their kids not having a Christmas? He played on her emotions - her vulnerability - and he won. She relented. For now . . .

It is totally unacceptable to me that Clearcast, the ad-approving body, censored Keira Knightley's ad for the charity Women's Aid, in which she portrays a victim who falls prey to her boyfriend's unleashed rage, deeming it to be too brutal to be shown even after the watershed. What planet are these people on?

Two women a week in England and Wales are killed by partners or former partners. It's an absolutely shocking statistic. As I write this, a woman's body has been discovered in a wheelie bin in Cobham, Surrey. Police are hunting a 33-year-old man in connection with the woman's death - a former occupant of the house.

I'm not pretending to have the answers here. But I know there are people out there who can help. If you need someone to talk to, or help with getting out of an abusive relationship, you can contact the National Domestic Violence 24-hour helpline (run in partnership between Women's Aid and Refuge) on (freephone) 0808 2000 247. In cases of emergency dial 999.

It's never too late to change your life for the better.