York woman calls for more support for survivors of sexual assault

A York woman's sharing her story of being spiked and sexually assaulted as she campaigns to get more support for other survivors.

Alexandra Harrison was attacked after starting to feel unwell on a night out: "I told the girls that, you know, just to make sure that I got home ok and that's kind of the last thing I remember until I came to in layby during a sexual assault."

She was told she couldn't talk to a counsellor about what happened in case it interfered with the upcoming trial.

"I'm seven years down the line and I struggle to go into detail, so it's not that I would have been going through the ins and outs of everything, but I couldn't even like touch remotely on any of the incidents that happened."

She's backing Declan's law - which would mean all victims could speak freely to a therapist regardless of whether the case goes to court.

She says it would have made a big difference to her recovery. "I'm still very much impacted to this day and I kind of think if I'd have had that pre trial counselling I'd probably be a lot further on into recovery than what I am now."

"I do think it puts people off pursuing justice because of the lack of support and you know, people are walking free, they're doing these things and it really does need to change."

Declan's law is a campaign started by Kev Curran from York following on from the death of his little brother. You can read more about it here

Where to get help and support

If you’ve been affected by the issues raised in this article, help is available.

Contact Rape crisis England and Wales - 0808 500 2222 - [https://rapecrisis.org.uk ](https://rapecrisis.org.uk |newtab)