More women are now signing up for self-defence classes to ‘take back control’

Self-defence classes across London have seen an increase in women wanting to learn skills which may end up being ‘life-saving’.

The spike is thought to be in reaction to the high-profile killings of several young women in the capital which have brought renewed focus to women’s safety.

The murders of sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman and Sarah Everard, and the death of Sabina Nessa all sent shockwaves through the capital.

Laura Thompson, 29, an account manager who has taken up classes at Urban Fit and Fearless in Peckham, south-east London, said: ‘I think a lot of women at the moment, especially living in London, are pretty shaken up.

‘I know a lot of friends that openly talk about how worried they are or how they don’t feel safe.

‘It’s definitely in the back of my mind and I think something like this is definitely going to help.’

The abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home in March by a serving Metropolitan Police officer renewed anger about male violence against women and undermined trust in the police.

It came nearly a year after two sisters, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, were stabbed to death by a man in a Satanic-inspired attack in a north-west London park.

And in September, schoolteacher Sabina Nessa was found dead in another park in the capital and a man has since been charged with her murder.

All three have fuelled calls to combat male violence against women, and spurred demands for better safety for women and girls in public spaces.

Hannah Feiner, a 31-year-old government lobbyist, said she had decided to take the self-defence classes as a direct reaction to Everard’s murder.

‘I feel really unsafe in London at the moment. I felt Sarah Everard’s death really strongly this year,’ she said.

‘I’ve grown up in London and it’s the first time I’ve felt unsafe on the streets. I felt like I needed to do something about it – take back control.’

Patrice Bonnafoux, who runs Urban Fit and Fearless, said it was common to see an increase in students joining classes following violent events.

He teaches Krav Maga – a type of hand-to-hand combat that was developed by the Israeli Army following World War Two.

Patrice shows classes – two-thirds of which are women – skills such as how to roll out of being pinned on the ground and using an attacker’s weight against them.

‘When you pin someone to the ground it’s easy for women to see the worst-case scenario,’ he said.

‘I don’t want to trigger. I want the class to stay fun.’

Patrice was first exposed to the Israeli fighting system Krav Maga during commando training in the French army.

Over the decades, he has seen the number of women learning the defence system rise dramatically.

‘Women’s interest in self-defence has been strong for a very long time. And I would say anyone who’s surprised by that hasn’t been paying attention,’ Patrice added.

He said increasingly, mums of young teenage daughters were getting in touch to enquire about classes – a trend he attributed to fears following Everard’s murder.

‘I think the fact that the guy was a cop shocked a number of people,’ he said.

Mums felt ‘if we can’t even trust the cops then we need to do something’, he added.

Another instructor, Di Lebowitz who runs a separate, women-only self-defence class in Vauxhall, south London, said she had seen a ‘big rise’ in enquiries.

‘Since this whole tragedy, there’s definitely been a lot more students or prospective students coming to want to learn how to defend themselves,’ she said.

Di, who has been an instructor for five years, took up Krav Maga while travelling in Cambodia to protect herself.

The former school teacher said she and her students felt Sabina Nessa’s death particularly keenly.

‘I get incredibly sad when these sorts of things happen. There is this niggling feeling,’ she said.

‘Specifically, with the Sabina Nessa case, I just keep replaying in my mind, if she had come to a few lessons if she knew how to kick, if she knew how to push… would that have changed anything?’

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