A KIND-HEARTED sister who lost a loved one to domestic violence set up a new charity to help others in that terrible situation.

Emma King spent five months setting up the Swindon Sisters Alliance in the second half of 2020 and opened the first charity shop in a large unit on The Parade just before Christmas.

Her sister Julie died after estranged husband Richard Butcher cut and strangled her at their Chiseldon home in 2005.

Originally given a life sentence in 2006 with a minimum time served of 13 years and 197 days in jail for her murder, Julie's killer was allowed out on licence in October 2020 due to a parole board decision.

Emma successfully fought for him to be banned from Swindon and now wants to help others who were trapped in abusive relationships like her sister's.

She said: "It took me seven years to get my life back in order after Julie died. I had all this love I couldn't give to anyone so I wanted to start a charity after getting the exclusion map approved.

"When that was done, I could stay in Swindon and get the ball rolling on starting up a charity in my hometown where we as a family have grown up all our lives.

"I once thought I'd have to leave town and take my family with me but he's been banned and now I'm doing something amazing."

With help from Voluntary Action Swindon, who guided her through the process of creating a non-profit group, the former manager of Prospect Hospice's Gorse Hill shop started the SSA and runs the new charity shop with another sister while working shifts at the Rodbourne Aldi.

Emma hopes to manage the charity shop full-time once the good cause becomes well-established. It fundraises for days out for families of people who have struggled with domestic abuse or have lost loved ones to domestic homicide.

She added: "It took me ages to get out there and do what I've always been passionate about, it started from scratch and now I hope people support it.

"The charity will help others within the Swindon area to help them rebuild their lives like we had to do when facing these types of challenges.

"We want to give families happy memories when times are hard and domestic violence has taken so much away from us. You can't combat isolation alone.

"We will be hoping to link in with other domestic abuse charities and authorities in our area to offer these days out to those who need them most.

"We can’t wait to book the first trip for our Swindon community and we've had so many people coming in saying how nice the shop is.

"Our Julie is the wind beneath our wings to making the charity a success."

For more information, visit www.swindonsistersalliance.co.uk or www.facebook.com/swindonsistersalliance

If you require support, call the Swindon Domestic Abuse Support Service 24/7 on 01793 610610 or visit swadomesticabuse.org. In an emergency call police on 999.