Wiltshire burglary victim meets perpetrator face to face

Coral's been sharing her experiences of the restorative justice programme

Coral's face has been blurred for confidentiality reasons
Author: Faye TryhornPublished 10th Oct 2023

A Wiltshire burglary victim says meeting the perpetrator face to face to has given her some closure on the incident.

Coral has been taking part in a restorative justice programme, set up by the county's Police and Crime Commissioner.

It gives offenders a chance to learn how their behaviour has affected others, in an effort to change their ways.

Coral says it's been a useful process:

"He no longer saw me as a victim, he no longer saw me as someone he'd done something bad to, I hope he started to see me as me. I started to see him as who he is becoming and not just what he'd done, and to me, that's a fantastic place to be."

The scheme gives both the 'harmed and the harmer' a chance to talk directly about the incident and how to move forward.

It's been credited with helping to reduce re-offending in the county.

Coral says it's been positive:

"At the end of our meeting, we agreed that if one day we happened to pass each other in the Market Square or in the street or whatever, it would be OK to greet each other.

"I think, to me, that's one of the best outcomes. For me to feel comfortable with that, means that I would have let go of all of my feelings of insecurity, anger or whatever was residual and the same for him - he would have to have stopped feeling guilty about things to be able to reach out and say hi."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.