A NEW support group for male victims of domestic violence is to be established in Hereford.

The move comes after the issue received widespread coverage at the Victim Support National AGM in London earlier this month.

During the meeting, Victim Support Herefordshire put forward a resolution to the National Council calling for improvements to the service offered to male victims by establishing their specific needs. It was carried unanimously.

The new group will initially involve telephone support but it is hoped that men will eventually be able to meet to discuss common problems.

Adele Llewellin, a co-ordinator for Victim Support Herefordshire, made a speech at the national AGM outlining the plight of abused men.

She said: "There are two common public misconceptions regarding domestic violence firstly that it is a crime, which only affects women.

"Yet Home Office research in 1999 found that 15 per cent of men had experienced domestic assault some time in their lives.

"This is opposed to 23 per cent of women.

"The second misconception is that when an incident against a man does occur it is somehow funny. There is an image of the small-emasculated man being chased by the large lady with a rolling pin.

"But there is no humour in such situations."

According to figures from the British Crime Survey in 1997, of the one million incidents of domestic violence recorded 330,000 of the victims were male.

"Yet there is no national organisation that currently offers specific support to male victims," explained Mrs Llewellin.

"We are in the process of revising national training in the area of domestic violence and if we want to pay more than lip service to male victims we need to carry out research to establish their specific needs.

"We need to focus on the good local practice of some victim support schemes and learn from their valuable experiences.

Quality service

"We need to be able to offer a uniform, informed quality service to male victims of domestic violence."

Mrs Llewellin pointed out that by offering support to men, the existing service to women victims would not be neglected.

"It has been a long and hard struggle for women victims to obtain current services but there seems to be a fear among agencies that by offering support to men we are somehow diluting the service to women - surely there is scope to offer a quality provision to both sexes."

Victim Support, which provides practical and emotional support to victims of crime in Herefordshire, can be contacted on 01432 346767.