Who am I ?

Born in Berlin Germany 1974. Lived a very difficult childhood. Progressing into adulthood I moved to Belfast 2000. Shortly after I became prominent In activism to highlight lack of equality in family law and male victims of domestic abuse. Having suffered domestic abuse for 10 years it was a very close topic for me.

Having been in my grandads flute band as teenager I was naive to the whole flute band / loyalist mindset. I didn’t get involved with any bands in N Ireland and instead got involved within politics and joined the PUP. I did a lot of work in this capacity for the community, including assisting single mothers fight back against social services. Partaking in high profile activism mostly in Belfast, it led to meeting with committees in Stormont and meeting other agencies to highlight male victims of domestic abuse.

It gained recognition of this issue across agencies in N Ireland.

As a member of the PUP, I worked to assist people from both communities when HMRC and Concentrix stopped tax credits for hundreds of thousands of claimants across the UK. I had direct link to Concentrix CEO so was able to have cases fixed within 5 days, while politicians had no clue. I am no longer a PUP member. 

I contemplated suicide as youngster and also in Belfast in January 2010. With a partner who had a connected relative I faced threats every day which kept me quiet and gave me no hope. Eventually I spoke to people ref these threats and they were found to be simply someone using a name. I was so fearful I was living in lenadoon at the time and after I spoke within the loyalist community, I was told to move back to East Belfast and I would be fine going forward. That July I got my four children full time and have had them since.

I admittedly suffer trauma from my childhood and abuse as a male adult, but it has driven me to help so many others across N Ireland and many since returning to Scotland with my kids in 2017.