Jill Saward

Jill Saward (born 14 January 1965 in Liverpool) is best known as the victim of the 1986 Ealing Vicarage Rape, a crime that scandalized the UK and led indirectly to changes in the law.

Family and Education

She was educated at Lady Margaret School in southwest London. Her father, Rev Michael Saward, became vicar of St Mary's, Ealing, in 1978.

Ealing Vicarage Rape

Saward hit the headlines on 6 March 1986 when a gang of burglars broke into her home at lunchtime. Her father and boyfriend received fractured skulls and she was raped.^[1] The incident received considerable international media coverage because her home was the Ealing Vicarage - her father was the Vicar of Ealing and the attack was soon labeled by the media as The Ealing Vicarage Rape Attack.^[2][3]

Saward's case received further notoriety when the judge gave those responsible longer sentences for the burglary than for the rape.^[4] The judge caused controversy when he said "I have been told the trauma suffered by the victim was not so great". Upon his retirement the judge, Sir John Leonard, publicly apologised for what he called a "blemish - I make no bones about it". ^[5]

Rape: My Story

In 1990, with the help of friend Wendy Green, Saward wrote a book about her experiences, called: "Rape: My Story". At the same time she featured in an Everyman programme for the BBC^[6] with Jenni Murray.

Campaigning work

Since 1990 Saward has worked in various roles to support victims of rape and sexual violence. She is involved in personal support of victims and training police officers. She writes for national newspapers, is a broadcaster and campaigns for changes to the way rape victims are treated by the police and legal system.

Politics

On 24 June 2008, Saward stated in an article on her website^[7] that she was considering standing as a candidate against David Davis in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, which she did. She criticised Davis for "saying nothing at all" about sexual violence issues while serving as Shadow Home Secretary; and stated that the DNA Database should be extended to help detection of sexual assault, and that there was a disparity between the "thousands" of people affected by sexual assault each year, compared to the detention proposals of the Counter-Terrorism Bill which "may not affect anyone at all". In the by-election Saward won 492 votes (2.1%).^{[8][9][10][11]}

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jill Saward.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rape

• Types of rape
• Date rape
• Effects of rape and aftermath
• Laws about rape

References

Books

• Rape: My Story by Jill Saward ISBN
• The Forgiveness Book by Bob Libby ISBN

External links

• Official website