A GROUP of friends from Wirral are raising awareness of domestic abuse against men in memory of their pal Paul Lavelle.

Paul, 50, from Rock Ferry was killed by his girlfriend Sarah Lewis after she attacked him with a broken dinner plate in May last year.

Lewis was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Now Paul's friends have decided to honour his memory and set up the charity The Paul Lavelle Foundation to raise awareness of domestic abuse involving men.

A trustee from the charity Paul Gladwell told the Standard's sister title the Wirral Globe: "After Paul's loss, a large group of us decided to honour Paul and set up the charity to raise awareness of domestic abuse involving men, this is a taboo issue and men keep silent.

"Many of us put the jigsaw together and saw the signs when it was too late for us all, this weighs heavy with some, for me personally it does.

"Paul joked that his partner 'was a crank' to me, little did I know he wanted me to expand his words, but I never.

"The response we have had so far has been staggering, we have only been a legal charity for five months!"

 

He added: "We have had meetings with business leaders, we had a great meeting with Everton in the community who are going to help and back us in the near future, we have had interviews on Radio 5 live afternoon slots and have appeared on Granada news headlines twice.

"We are also growing on social media, a tweet on our Twitter page has been seen by more than half a million alone.

"Next month will also see Paul’s mum, son and brother on BBC 1 feature on a massive programme."

The charity's main goal is to raise enough cash to build a community hub in Paul's name which will also act as a refuge for male victims of domestic abuse.

It also aims to lend a helping hand and raise cash for other charities across Merseyside.

Paul said: "We have staged a few events so far - our first was a 10k run down Hoylake and that will now become an annual event each bank holiday at the end of May, as is the family fun-day the day after.

"We have also had a black-tie dinner which was a celebration of the charity.

"Over the coming months we are donating to charities before we move forward with more fundraising including a bike ride from Lands End to John O'Groats among other events."

Another friend and trustee Steve McHugh became the first person from Wirral to swim the channel solo in July, raising £5,637.50 for the Foundation and other charities including Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Mankind Initiative and Stick'n'Step.

Watch his experience here:

To keep up-to-date on upcoming events and news from the Paul Lavelle Foundation visit https://www.facebook.com/Paul-Lavelle-Foundation-345187285939406/ or follow their Twitter page https://twitter.com/paullavellefoun