A TEESSIDE charity chief has spoken out about the "horrifying" impact of domestic abuse on women through lockdown.

Richinda Taylor, chief executive for EVA Women’s Aid, says the consequences are sure to be far-reaching and that some women "will not make it out of this alive".

EVA Women’s Aid, which supports more than 1,000 domestic and sexual abuse victims across Redcar and Cleveland, was forced to furlough its mental health worker at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, thanks to a £10,000 grant from County Durham Community Foundation, the charity has been able to bring back its mental health worker to help care for women when they need it most.

Ms Taylor said: “We have spoken to one woman who says her partner is ‘ramping it up because he’s bored and got nothing to do’ which is just horrifying.

“Never before has this been such an issue and the impact on women’s mental health is significant.

“We really need our mental health worker and this funding has enabled us to bring her out of furlough and that’s fantastic as she can support both our service users and our staff with their queries.

The charity is hoping to re-open its doors in July, but Ms Taylor warns that a “critical” few months will follow as domestic abuse occuring through lockdown “will leave a terrible legacy “.

“Our staff are very concerned about the women we work with because they are literally trapped in their homes,” said Ms Taylor.

“There are some women who won’t make it out of this alive and so many who can’t even pop to see a friend or to the shops and get a break for a short while.

“To not know when this will end must be truly awful for them.”

Last year the charity opened its newest safehouse for service users, the fourth in the area.

The house offered fitness and wellbeing support to victims who suffer from mental health problems.

It joined Eva Women’s Aid’s other specialist houses such as its ‘45+ Project’ safehouse, which is the first and only safehouse in the UK specifically for older women.

County Durham Community Foundation has so far awarded a total of £280,000 to 61 Tees Valley groups since lockdown began.

The group has been working in partnership with the National Emergencies Trust (NET), to distribute part of £40million fund raised through a national appeal to local charities.

Chief executive of County Durham Community Foundation Michelle Cooper said: “We are all trying to stay positive, but we also must be realistic about the tremendous danger some families are facing. We can’t stop domestic abuse over night, but we can do everything in our power to make sure that our responses are robust and well-funded.”