10k handbags given out to domestic abuse victims in memory of Grace Millane
Grace Millane was killed in New Zealand while backpacking three years ago today
Three years since on from the murder of Grace Millane from Essex and over 10,000 handbags, filled with essentials, have been given out to victims of domestic abuse in her memory.
The 22 year-old was killed by a man she went on a Tinder date with while backpacking in New Zealand in 2018.
Her family launched Love Grace in tribute to help others.
Cousin Hannah O'Callaghan said their original target was only 50: "We don't call them handbags, we call them smiles, because that's over 10,000 people we've made smile in Grace's memory.
"One of the ladies said receiving the bag was the first time she felt someone believed her, and believed in her, which I just think's lovely.
"We had one lady message to say that she was 18 and she had left with her family and they had £20 to their name and it was just nice to walk in, see a handbag, and be able to have a shower and wash the smell of the place they'd come from off them and go out and have a handbag and feel normal."
She told us the bags include basics like shampoo, conditioner and deodorant, but also a handful of luxuries: "Make-up, a purse, scarf, gloves, sunglasses, hand cream, nail polish, notebook, pen.
"A lot of these ladies have left pretty terrible situations and when they leave, they're leaving at short notice.
"They're really good at packing for their children and not always themselves, so when they arrive at refugees and safehouses they don't have anything.
"So we try to fill them up until they're bursting at the seams will all of these goodies."