The Duke of Cambridge

Case Studies

Centrepoint - Ella's Story

Ella’s Christmases have always been lonely. As a child, she was abused both verbally and physically by her mother. She was regularly locked up in the house, unable to make friends. Then, out of the blue and for no reason whatsoever, she’d be thrown out late at night onto the freezing streets. With no friends and nobody to turn to, she’d end up all alone in the middle of the night.

But this was not the extent of her mother’s cruelty. On her sixteenth birthday, Ella’s mother was abusing her. Ella ran out of the house but was soon dragged back. In a sickening twist, her mother then instructed Ella’s uncle to call the police and tell them she had tried to commit suicide. Ella recalls that her mother smashed her phone to stop her calling for help, repeatedly kicked and stamped on her, then lied to the police to ensure Ella really had nowhere to turn.

“I wish I’d never had you.” Those were the words that Ella’s mother chose to leave her with as she threw her onto the streets. It was just before Christmas.

“I ended up in a park until 3am. You know when you just feel numb? I can still remember feeling dead inside. Like I wasn’t even me, looking at life through someone else’s body. It was Christmas and I was very sad and very, very lonely.”