A brave police constable is training other officers to spot domestic abuse after his own mum was murdered by his stepdad.
Mike Taggart, 37, was only 15 when his mother Donna Crist was stabbed to death by her husband Derek Evans.
Donna, 36, suffered years of domestic abuse before she was killed by Evans, 54, when she told him she wanted a divorce.
Son Mike is now fighting to save other women from the same fate by heading up a police force strategic abuse team.
He said: “Officers are aware of coercive control, but now, we want this knowledge to have more of an impact.
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“The aim of this training is to educate officers and give them more tools for their kit really, to be able to take it that step further.
“The more we can pick up on, the more thorough the investigation will be and hopefully that will help in making victims safer and getting better conviction rates in court.”
Mike has now praised North Wales Police for launching a “cultural change programme” to improve understanding of abuse and coercive control.
The force will work with the Safe Lives charity to deliver the Domestic Abuse Matters course.
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Mike, who was recently honoured with an MBE, said: “There have been times where there have been missed opportunities and there is work that could have been done to change an outcome or make it better for someone.
“So, to see us as a police force to put something into place that’s going to accommodate those things is massive.”
Mike believes his mum may have decided to seek help if she had the information available today.
He said: “I think back in the 90s, domestic abuse was probably seen as that – as something that happened at home and it was nobody else's business.
“But it isn’t just about what happens behind closed doors now, it’s about how we as police and bystanders deal with it.
“We can all be eyes and ears and help a victim, who could be so frightened that they’d never come forward, but sometimes you can have that little guardian angel somewhere that will make that call that will get the ball rolling in terms of support.
“There was nothing like that available when my mum was alive.
“Having that information in my time, readily available, and having that encouragement and support might well have given my mum that push she might have needed.”
Evans got an 11 year minimum sentence for murder in 1998 - he has since been released on parole.
