Brave teenager whose mother was murdered by abuser continues campaign for justice

And she has been true to her word.

Now 18, the teenager has become a campaigner against domestic abuse, speaking at conferences across the country. She has been involved in training hundreds of people to spot the signs of domestic abuse and has stepped in as an advocate to help others affected by such abuse.

For someone who has seen what no-one should see, the horrific death of her mother and the coercive control leading up to the murder, Georgia is incredibly positive.

Cheryl was murdered by her own husband, Georgia's stepfather.

Cheryl and Georgia had moved out of killer Andrew Hooper's house to start a new life three years before the murder.

Officers visited their rented home in Newport while investigating Hooper's behaviour.

He had been stalking Cheryl after they had split up and had even fitted a tracker to her car.

It was in January 2018 when Georgia saw her mum Cheryl shot through the window of her car in Newport.

Georgia now lives with her grandparents in Newport, close to where her mother was killed.

Her mission, to stop the perpetrators of abuse ruining more lives, spurs her on.

And her message to those under someone else's control is 'it is not your fault'.

Andrew Hooper was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 31 years for Cheryl's murder after a court case in which Georgia stood up and gave evidence, determined to look him in the eye to show him she was not afraid.

A year later she was a guest speaker at a domestic abuse conference at the imposing Celtic Manor in South Wales, talking to hundreds of delegates.

And since then her work to stop the abuse has continued, alongside her job with dairy herds on two farms near her home.

"I don't know what I want to do in the future," she said.

"If the domestic abuse work leads to a career then so be it. But wherever life takes me I will always, always campaign against domestic abuse.

"My step-father was never physically abusive, he was controlling and coercive. And as a child you have no voice, you feel powerless. Even now I will be talking to someone about what happened to them or read something and it will stop me in my tracks and think, that's what was happening to us.

"My mum and I had been in an abusive family relationship before and I think mum was lying to herself that it wasn't happening again. I think she thought it was her fault, that she had failed with one relationship and didn't want to fail at another.

"She didn't realise that she was the victim."

Georgia feels that, had officers used a Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour-based Violence (DASH) assessment check-list, the warning signs of coercive control and abuse could have been flagged up and the murder prevented.

She said her domestic abuse work helped her to deal with the trauma of what happened, although she admitted she probably had not yet fully dealt with the grief of her mum's death.

"I meet so many people who have experienced domestic abusive and even one person whose mum was also murdered. We have become friends and it is good to know that, if we are struggling, we can contact each other for a chat."

It is knowing that she is helping others that makes Georgia determined to continue.

"This week someone saw me on the news and said that I had given her the strength to get out of the relationship she was in. That is what keeps me going."

West Mercia Police force referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct after the tragedy.

"The IOPC declared that it was a lack of resources, but that the officer had asked questions to the best of his ability without having that piece of paper," Georgia said.

She wants every police force in the country to provide specialist domestic abuse training for all its staff.

"Perpetrators are very good at manipulating people and situations and making it look like there's nothing going on."

"The officers are going into situations that they know nothing about."

West Mercia Police force said it had delivered five phases of Domestic Abuse Matters training for officers and call takers in the force control room and completed DASH training for front line officers. More internal work would take place in the summer.