‘You think you’re going to die’: This Morning’s Alison Hammond recounts terrifying experience of thinking she was being followed home
Alison Hammond has recounted her terrifying experience of feeling like she was being followed home.
Speaking on Friday’s This Morning, the presenter, 46, told how in the moment, she believed she was ‘going to die’, after recalling her fears as someone ‘followed’ her across the road.
It came during the topical news segment with guests Matthew Wright and Giles Brandreth in which they discussed the disappearance of Sarah Everard and the resulting social media calls for women to feel safer on the streets.
Personal experience: Alison Hammond has recounted her terrifying experience of feeling like she was being followed home
During the chat, Alison told how she plans to ‘educate’ her 16-year-old son Aidan on how to act around women, while her co-star Dermot O’Leary, 46, insisted more needs to be done to make women feel safe.
Former Big Brother Alison then shared her experience of feeling scared as she walked home as a man crossed the road just after she did.
She explained: ‘I felt that adrenaline rush when you think you’re being followed.
‘When I’ve walked across the road and somebody’s followed me across the road, I’ve got a little bit faster and that person has got faster, and I’m telling you, you think you’re going to die!
Thoughts: Alison told how she plans to ‘educate’ her 16-year-old son Aidan on how to act around women, while her co-star Dermot O’Leary, 46, insisted more needs to be done to make women feel safe
‘It could be easily nipped in the bud by just crossing the road.’
To which Dermot responded: ‘Right! Because me and my friends have talked about it!
‘When you are on a street, you’re walking home, and there’s a woman walking on the same street, you cross the road, you get into the light, you make sure they know you are not a threat, you get your phone out, you do anything it takes, you do anything to make sure they know you’re not a threat.’
With Alison adding: ‘It’s just a sad state of affairs that we still have to feel like that.’
Fears: Speaking on Friday’s This Morning, the presenter, 46, told how in the moment, she believed she was ‘going to die’, after recalling her fears as someone ‘followed’ her across the road
Chat: It came during the topical news segment with guests Matthew Wright and Giles Brandreth in which they discussed the disappearance of Sarah Everard and the resulting social media calls for women to feel safer on the streets
Earlier in the chat, Dermot further shared his thoughts on the issue, telling the panel: ‘You would like to think that men of a certain age and a certain responsibility don’t need to be educated, but, so where does it start?’
While Alison replied: ‘I think it starts when your child is quite young to be honest.
‘Aiden is a teenager… I will always say, “Walk a girl home when you can, if you do see someone in front of you, a lady in front of you, maybe just cross over the road”.’
33-year-old marketing executive Sarah ‘vanished into thin air’ after leaving a friend’s house in Clapham, south London at around 9pm on Wednesday, March 3.
Wayne Couzens, a diplomatic protection officer based at the Palace of Westminster, was arrested on Tuesday night over the disappearance.
Memory: ‘When I’ve walked across the road and somebody’s followed me across the road, I’ve got a little bit faster and that person has got faster, and I’m telling you, you think you’re going to die!’
In the wake of Sarah’s disappearance, women took to social media by the thousands to stress that the vulnerability felt when walking alone in the dark resonates with almost all women.
Nicola Sturgeon, arguably the most powerful woman in the country, said ‘there will be few – if any – women who don’t completely understand and identify with this’.
Labour MP Diane Abbott wrote: ‘Even after all these years if I am out late at night on an isolated street & I hear a man’s footsteps behind me I automatically cross the road.
‘It is the habit of a lifetime to try & keep safe. But it should not have to be like this #SarahEverard.’
Important: Earlier in the chat, Dermot further shared his thoughts on the issue, telling the panel: ‘You would like to think that men of a certain age and a certain responsibility don’t need to be educated, but, so where does it start?’
Education: While Alison replied: ‘I think it starts when your child is quite young to be honest’
Actress Katy Brand also said: ‘Important to clarify I think that although instances of kidnap and murder from a stranger are indeed rare, being aggressively followed in the street by a man is not rare at all.
‘I think it would be good to separate the two things. Lots of us have been scared many times.’
Meanwhile, Priti Patel has said that ‘every woman should feel safe to walk on our streets’ as dozens shared their harrowing personal stories with #saraheverard and #TooManyMen
Reclaim These Streets marches, designed to show that women should feel safe no matter the time of day, are now being organised.
So sad: 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard ‘vanished into thin air’ after leaving a friend’s house in Clapham, south London at around 9pm on Wednesday, March 3
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