A major project aiming to help women deal with domestic abuse is being lauched today. HENRY WIDDAS reports

IT used to be the silent crime, the terror behind closed doors. But a project is being launched in Caerphilly county borough today to tell women they no longer have to be victims.

And one former victim today tells women who are being violently abused: "Get help."

Police believe around half of all Gwent murders are the result of this "hidden crime", and every year in Gwent there are up to 4,000 domestic violence attacks.

And yet successful prosecutions for the crime are historically rare. The government pilot project in the Caerphilly borough - where there has been a history of high rates of domestic abuse - will be getting tougher on domestic violence by supporting victims.

A 'lay advocate' will be appointed, whose role would be to provide support for the victim, while also being a link to the criminal justice agencies.

Caerphilly borough council are appointing a support worker for the project who will put victims in contact with housing agencies.

Prosecutions will be less reliant on the victim having to give evidence in court.

Victims are being advised they can contact police with complaints in the confidence that they will have multi-agency support all the way through to conviction.

One victim, Angela (not her real name), suffered decades of violence at the hands of her husband, and today is telling women: "You don't have to put up with it."

The woman, in her sixties, suffered broken ribs, black eyes, and was hospitalised on a number of occasions.

She put up with years of mental abuse before fleeing to a Gwent refuge. Later, she became one of their volunteer workers.

Angela says: "This project will help women realise that they are not the only ones out there - and that they can take these men to court. "Many women no longer have to press charges themselves, the police can do it for them, so it is far easier than it was."

The Right Honourable Harriet Harman, MP, the government's solicitor-general, was officially launching the scheme today.

Christopher Woolley, chief Crown prosecutor for CPS Gwent, said: "Victims of domestic violence have suffered in silence for too long. "The project aims to give them a voice."

The Gwent CPS, Gwent Police, Caerphilly borough council, Victim Support, Refuge, and a host of other organisations will be involved in the pilot scheme.

The project comes in the wake of domestic violence charity Refuge's hard-hitting poster campaign that was introduced last week.

Detective Inspector Martyn Dew, of Gwent Police, said: "We are trying to support the victim and make criminals accountable for this hidden crime."