Boxer helps women rebuild their lives after abuse

A former Team GB boxer who survived domestic abuse is helping other women rebuild their lives by teaching them boxing skills in London.

Lesley Sackey was part of Britain's first female Olympic boxing selection team and won gold at the European Championships but after her Olympic dream ended in 2012 she turned her focus to helping others.

On the abuse she suffered, Lesley said: "It wasn't until I was around other women I started to see 'actually, this isn't healthy'.

"I was in survival mode," she told BBC News. After her ordeal she "wanted to feel strong and I wanted to feel empowered. I thought, what does that look like?"

For Lesley, the answer was, perhaps unsurprisingly, boxing.

It was a skill which she says she wanted to teach other women who have gone through the same situation as her.

Now 43, Lesley runs Fight Forward, a not-for-profit organisation that uses boxing to support women recovering from trauma and abuse.

The women who attend her class at a gym in Kilburn, north-west London, have suffered horrific ordeals at the hands of their domestic abusers.

Lesley has worked with more than 100 women so far since founding the group in 2022, with 20 going through the full programme to step into the ring.

"I'd love to help 100,000 women," she says. "I think it's completely possible.

"Currently, one in four women in the UK experience abuse in their lifetime. I actually think it's higher, that's around eight and a half million women just in the UK alone."

Among those who have trained with Sackey is Antonia "Amja" Lee, 49, who was inspired after attending one of Lesley's fight nights.

"I was actually at Lesley's fight back a couple of years ago and was so inspired, by her story because I have also had the experience of domestic abuse," she said.

There were no convictions against Amja's partner at that time.

Antonia said: "One of the problems is around coercive control.

"Domestic abuse can numb you, from your feelings your emotions and I think Fight Forward allows you to feel again and to create our own closure."

She says she was stalked, attacked anonymously and had hot oil thrown in her face on her way to work.

"When that got reported to the police it was like there is not enough evidence to prove who it is," she said. "It's their word against yours."

"I had to keep getting on with my life and that's the unfortunate thing. So being in a community like Fight Forward and to be held again you feel safe to share.

"When you're telling a story like the one I've told you you're actually in a space where people are like, 'yes I believe you.'"

Yurdal Mohammad, 41, also trains with Fight Forward. She said her partner's behaviour began with emotional abuse before escalating into violence.

"I didn't even realise it was a domestic violence relationship until I told the police," she said.

"Initially it started with more emotional abuse and sort of putting me down. It was very emotional, psychological, and I didn't really understand that was abuse at all - there was small physical elements and then I was attacked quite severely where I was hospitalised," Yurdal told the BBC.

Her ex-partner was eventually convicted of gross bodily harm with intent and went to prison, she said.

Yurdal says many domestic violence victims "and feel like they can't speak about it to everybody and they feel very alone".

"I find by being in this group, it's given the platform and a very safe space for people to be able to talk about it, and probably for the first time in years and me personally, it's just really helped with my healing journey."

Saria Alireza, 38, has trained with Lesley for more than eight years and fought in one of the organisation's fight nights.

She says the abuse by her partner began with "manipulation and control" then escalated to physical violence.

Comparing getting into the boxing ring with the violence suffered at the hands of her abuser Saria said: "You're not fighting somebody else.

"You're fighting for yourself, you're not fighting to protect yourself from somebody who's coming at you because they want to hurt you or they want they don't like you or they, you know, they're trying to control you.

"This is two consenting women getting into a ring, and we're each fighting for ourselves, not against each other."

Saria added: "Lesley understands us. For her as a GB boxer, she was literally in front of the world.

"But women every day, what happens at home, they suffer at home, they go to work and they put on a brave face and nobody knows."

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, visit BBC Action Line for information on organisations that can help.

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