A disabled woman says she does not feel safe in her own home because of the abuse she faces from her stepson.

Sarah – not her real name – who is from Nottinghamshire, said she had faced verbal abuse and threats for six years from the 17-year-old.

She said: “I’m pretty rock bottom. I go to work because work is the only safe place I have.”

PEGS, a social enterprise group which supports parents facing abuse, called for more safeguarding for families.

In a recent survey of 200 service users, PEGS found 75% of parents had had to call the police to de-escalate at least one incident, with a quarter saying they had called police at least five times because of fears over their safety.

They also found 68% of parents did not feel they had received the help they needed after contacting a professional.

‘I’m not safe’

Sarah, who has reported her stepson’s violent, unpredictable outbursts to the police three times, said: “I just live minute-to-minute at the moment.

“I’m not safe if I’m at home.

“He’ll call me a cripple probably at least five to 10 times a day.

“A few months back he said ‘You won’t be here much longer’.

“I said ‘Why do you think that?’ and he said ‘Because I’ll make it happen’.

“When he’s been very angry he’s attacked his father; he’s scarred his father going at him with a piece of metal.”

After Sarah’s most recent call to the police, her stepson was given alternative accommodation but returned after a few weeks.

She said neither he nor the family were given any support.

“We have tried and tried and tried,” she said.

“We’ve been to the GP who has laughed it off as normal teenage behaviour.

“We tried to get him referred to paediatrics.

“He’s been referred to the NHS’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services [CAMHS] and was sat on a waiting list for probably two plus years.”

Sarah said she was now being supported by PEGS, which works with parents who are experiencing abuse from their own child.

Michelle John, the founder of PEGS, said: “Parents are quite often told ‘the young person may have A, B or C’.

“That’s not very helpful for them in that situation. What we need to be doing in that situation is going ‘We see you, we hear you and what can we do to safeguard the family as a whole?'”

Becky Sutton, executive director of Local Mental Health Services, Nottinghamshire Healthcare, said: “Child to parent abuse is incredibly serious and can be distressing for everyone involved.

“CAMHS clinicians often work collaboratively with partnership agencies to enhance care packages so that the best outcomes are achieved for young people and their families.

“The average wait for a CAMHS assessment is nine weeks from referral. While any young person is waiting for an assessment or intervention and urgent support is needed, a CAMHS crisis service is available to them 24 hours a day.

“We would encourage any parent with concerns to make contact directly with CAMHS so that we can explore options for further support.”

A deaf woman is calling for ambulance crews to learn basic sign language after paramedics were unable to tell her that her husband had died.

Elizabeth Corbett was at work when she received a distressed video call from her children to say her husband David, 51, had fallen ill.

By the time she got home, paramedics had arrived but could not explain to Mrs Corbett what had happened.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) said it was deeply sorry.

Mrs Corbett, 43, from Chellaston in Derby, eventually learned of her husband’s death via a video call to her employer.

She said: “David had been mowing the grass and had sat down for a cool drink with the children when he suddenly stopped talking.

“At first the kids thought he was joking – because he was a big joker – but then they started to panic when they couldn’t wake him up.

“They contacted me and I told them to ring for an ambulance, while a colleague drove me home.

“The children were amazing, they performed CPR until the paramedics arrived.

“But when I got there the kids were stood on the lawn crying and the emergency services wouldn’t let me in the house.

“Not one of them could communicate with me and I couldn’t explain who I was.

“I wanted to know what was happening and the police were asking me questions, but they were all wearing facemasks so I couldn’t tell what they were saying.

“Eventually I contacted work and the receptionist spoke to the paramedics who told her that David had died. So I found out over FaceTime that he had gone.”

Mrs Corbett, who was born without hearing, is now calling for all emergency workers to have sign language training and a fully charged iPad so that they can connect to a qualified interpreter instantly.

She is also hoping to raise £60,000 for Royal School for the Deaf Derby, which her husband – who was also deaf – had attended and where she works as a teaching assistant.

She said once the paramedics had realised she was deaf, they had removed their facemasks.

“But for a deaf person in such a stressful situation it was very difficult to lipread, despite their efforts,” she said.

A post mortem revealed Mr Corbett had had a blood clot which caused a fatal heart attack.

The dad-of-two, who had worked at Toyota for almost 30 years, died on 15 June.

Craig Whyles, divisional director for Derbyshire at EMAS said: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the patient’s family and I am deeply sorry for the poor experience they had with our service.

“We would like to speak to the patient’s family about their experience and urge them to get in touch with us at their earliest convenience.

“As an organisation we are currently working with the Nottinghamshire Deaf Society to discuss how we can improve our education to staff around deaf awareness and common emergency communication problems.”