Stalking victim campaigns for safer streets

Lauren Brook co-founded Reclaim the Night Tunbridge Wells with Councillor Jayne Sharratt in 2022

A woman who was stalked by a stranger said the ordeal motivated her to set up a women's safety campaign group in Kent.

Lauren Brook formed Reclaim the Night Tunbridge Wells with borough councillor Jayne Sharratt in 2022 and held the group's annual march through town on Tuesday.

Ms Brook, from Rusthall, near Tunbridge Wells, said she was "stalked in broad daylight while she was walking back from lunch" to her office in 2018.

Police across the South East say they are focused on women's safety, including in Kent where the force said that tackling violence against women and girls was a "key priority" and it was working with local businesses to "promote safer socialising in town and city centres".

Ms Brook, 31, said she saw the man again later that day.

"I saw him again as I was walking home and he then tried to talk to me and got very close to me," she said.

She called her boyfriend, asking him to come and meet her. She said the man "wouldn't leave me alone until my boyfriend turned up".

Ms Brook said the stalking "shaped" her twenties, and inspired her to "want to make a change and address the misogyny we have in our society".

This week's Reclaim the Night march saw the biggest turnout yet, with more than 100 attendees

More than 100 people attended the most recent march on Tuesday night.

Two walks were held across Tunbridge Wells, from St Johns Road and Rusthall, both finishing at the Pantiles.

Ms Sharratt said: "We started four years ago because we just wanted to feel free to walk from our village into town and we didn't feel safe doing so, so we just thought there's safety in numbers, we can do it once a year."

It comes one month after a teenage girl was sexually assaulted by an unknown man on Tunbridge Wells Common.

The most recent government statistics show there were 3,930 reports of rape and sexual assault in the last year - a similar number to 2023/24.

In Surrey, there were 1,745 reports of sexual assault and rape of females. This increased by 5.5% from the previous year, where there were 1,648 reports recorded.

Sussex saw 3,788 reports last year, a rise of 1.5% on the previous year.

Sussex Police has released a survey seeking the views of the public as it looks to improve its response to incidents of violence against women and girls.

'Increased patrols'

Det Supt Karrie Bohanna said: "For women and girls, we understand that they want to feel safer when they're walking out and about on the streets."

Sussex Police said it had "increased patrols in the night time economy areas in Brighton and in our main cities".

Police have used a variety of other tools as part of the campaign, including drones on the beach and a partnership with night safety marshals.

The survey launched by Sussex Police runs until December 17.