THE parents of an East Lancashire nurse murdered by her ex-partner have called on businesses to do their bit to help victims of domestic violence.

Jane Clough, 26, was repeatedly stabbed by her ex-partner Jonathan Vass, who was on bail awaiting trial for raping her.

And speaking at an event organised by police to raise awareness of how domestic abuse can have an impact on employees, Jane’s parents John and Penny Clough said it is vital for businesses to have policies in the workplace to support staff who are being abused.

Mr Clough said: “This is very important. We saw Jane struggle to get to work because she was scared for her safety. She was dealing with a lot of emotional trauma and stress because thing were going through the courts. And we know ourselves simply how hard it was for us as parents to get to work some days. The majority of people out there do not understand what domestic abuse is and the complexities of domestic abuse. We were similar before Jane became a victim.

Lancashire Telegraph:

“You come to an expectation in the early days that domestic abuse is somebody getting slapped around and bruises and it all being violent. But you’ve got sexual abuse, you’ve got physical abuse, you’ve got financial abuse and emotional abuse.

“Businesses typically have the impression that it’s not their business. It’s up to the police and other agencies. Leave it at home. But it’s one of these things. It’s not possible to leave it at home. You live with it 24-hours-a-day.

“It’s about employers understanding the fear that the victim is dealing with. But if there dealing with that fear at home, what effect is that having on their ability to do their job? On their ability to get to work. It’s alright somebody ringing in sick and saying ‘I can’t come in I’ve got stomach ache’. They’re not going to ring in and say ‘I’ve been assaulted’.”

More than 100 people turned up at the event at the Waitrose Distribution Centre, Buckshaw Village.