Luke and Ryan are ‘Inspirations’

Two brothers have been named as 2020 inspirations by the BBC as their message on domestic abuse became ever more important during the year.

Following the 2016 murder of their mum Claire and sister Charlotte by their dad at the Castle Sports Complex in Spalding, Luke and Ryan Hart have been campaigning and raising awareness of what the brothers call ‘the domestic abuse pandemic’.

The pair have travelled the world speaking to others about coercive control and teaching about how to recognising the signs of it occurring.

They’ve also been training others on how to provide help in such situations and a key part of their campaigning surrounds how the media reports domestic abuse.

The pandemic has affected the campaigning to a certain extent, but they’ve continued where possible, including appearing on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme earlier this year.

It’s led to the BBC World Service’s Inspirations 2020 nomination.
Ryan told The Voice: “2020 started with us travelling all over the world training professionals on coercive control – myself in Australia and Luke in the USA.

“However, since then we’ve spent the rest of the year confined to our homes.

“Luckily for us though, home is now a safe place.

“But 2020 has shown that, for growing numbers, home is the most dangerous place; domestic murder rates have doubled this year. 2021 will hopefully bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic, but much more work is needed if we are to bring an end to the domestic abuse pandemic which shows no signs of abating. 2020 has made it much harder for us to raise awareness and train professionals at precisely the time when it has been most needed.

“We hope that 2021 will bring freedom to those that need it most and the opportunity for us to continue to travel and share our story in the hope that it will help to make others safer.”

An interview with Luke and Ryan is due to air on the BBC Wolrld Service 12pm on Tuesday, December 29.

“We’re honoured and very grateful for the BBC Inspirations Award and, as always, we want to take this opportunity to recognise the inspiration that Mum and Charlotte were to us,” Ryan continued. “We’re forever grateful for the influence they had on our lives and continue to have on our journey.”