When 20-year-old hairdresser, Hollie Gazzard, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend at the Gloucester salon where she worked, it sent shockwaves through the entire nation. But the tragedy of her death has been transformed into the most incredible legacy.
Set-up by her family and headed up by dad, Nick Gazzard, the Hollie Gazzard Trust has spent the last 10 years working hard to make sure nobody else goes through what they did — and SoGlos rounds up just 10 of the charity's incredible achievements to mark the start of its milestone 10th year.
Launching Hollie Guard
Perhaps the most recognisable of the charity's achievements, its game-changing Hollie Guard personal safety app was launched in 2015. Packed with unique features, including location tracking, a discreet alert system that is activated with just a shake or a tap and the ability to detect a fall, the free app helps users to feel safe both at home and out and about.
The app can also collect video and audio evidence when an alert is activated, which is stored on the Hollie Guard server — so even if the device is lost or destroyed, any evidence it has collected is kept safe. Around 106 Hollie Guard alerts are triggered every day — and the app averages 50,000 new sign-ups every year.
Forming partnerships with police forces across the country
The Hollie Gazzard Trust has formed partnerships with nine police forces across the country, to promote use of the Hollie Guard app — and use the evidence it collects in their investigations.
To date, evidence collected by the app has been used in 60 police investigations so far, to help to protect victims and bring abusers to justice. These kinds of interventions can be a crucial break in the domestic abuse homicide timeline, potentially saving lives before an abuser's behaviour escalates any further.
Helping to create documentaries telling Hollie's story
Raising awareness of domestic abuse and stalking is a fundamental part of the Hollie Gazzard Trust's mission — as is telling Hollie's own story. The charity has been involved in making eight documentaries about Hollie's case, including Netflix's My Lover, My Killer, to explain not only what happened to her, but the circumstances leading up to it, to help others recognise the signs.
Nick was on ITV's Loose Women this February 2024, raising awareness of the charity's 10th birthday. The Hollie Gazzard Trust has also played an important role in raising awareness locally, helping to bring the Knife Angel and the anti-violence Manchester bee monument to Gloucester over the last few years, with teams on hand to talk to the community about what happened to Hollie — and how to stop it from ever happening again.
Changing the law on stalking
The Hollie Gazzard Trust worked with MPs to lobby the government into changing stalking laws, to protect vulnerable people before suspects are convicted or arrested.
Stalking Protection Orders were officially introduced in 2016 as part of the preventing violence against women and girls (VAWG) initiative and included banning stalkers from going near their victim or contacting them online.
Launching Hollie Guard Extra
Taking Hollie Guard to the next level, the charity introduced its paid-for Hollie Guard Extra service in 2018. For just £7.99 per month, Hollie Guard Extra provides 24/7 police-approved alert monitoring, a personal response team and priority support for those who feel they need it most. Since 2021, over 3,000 people have benefited from its 24/7 alert monitoring.
There is also a Hollie Guard Extra option for businesses, to ensure employers are doing everything they can to safeguard their staff outside of the workplace. As well as providing a level of protection to people who may be at risk of domestic abuse when working from home, the app can also provide reassurance when travelling to and from work with location tracking; and when attending meetings or appointments, by raising an automatic alert after a set period of time; not to mention attracting top talent by demonstrating that your business truly cares about the safety of its staff.
Training 15,000 people to spot the signs of abuse
Helping people understand and spot the signs of coercive control, domestic abuse, sexual harassment and stalking is a huge part of the Hollie Gazzard Trust's work. It has created programmes and workshops on eight different subjects, which all relate back to Hollie's experiences.
So far, it has delivered that training to over 15,000 individuals across the UK, from police forces to members of the community, to help them understand these dangerous behaviours; how to prevent them; and how to help victims.
Receiving multiple awards
The charity and its founder, Nick, have a string of awards under their belts — from the High Sheriff’s Team Award for helping to develop Gloucestershire Constabulary's Flare app; a commendation from the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service; to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Points of Light award — all recognising the important contribution the Hollie Gazzard Trust has made to communities across the country.
Nick also received an honorary fellowship from the University of Gloucestershire in 2023. He said: 'For me, it was a real privilege and I am very proud to receive the award, particularly from the University of Gloucestershire where I studied in 1982. From the outset when I set up the trust, it was always my intention to help others and prevent others going through what we went through.'
Hollie Guard reaching 500,000 users
While its roots are firmly planted in Gloucester, thanks to the Hollie Guard app and its work with various different police forces, the Hollie Gazzard Trust has a national reach. The Hollie Guard app has over 500,000 active users, making it the UK's largest safety app — bringing reassurance, protection and peace of mind to users all over the country. In the last three years alone, over 280,000 people have signed up for Hollie Guard.
This February 2024, the charity is Crowdfunding to raise £10,000 to keep the groundbreaking Hollie Guard app free in the UK, ensuring the app is kept to the very highest standards, without passing any of the increasing running costs on to users.
Teaching children and young people about healthy relationships
The Hollie Gazzard Trust also takes its training into schools, helping children and young people to understand what healthy relationships look like; teaching them about coercive control and what that means; raising awareness of knife crime; and even helping them to rethink what masculinity looks like, as well as showing them the Hollie Guard app and how it can help them stay safe as they become more independent.
Over the last three years, the charity has delivered training to over 70 different schools, colleges, universities and local authorities, reaching around 4,000 people.
Hosting the UK's first ever Active Bystander Conference
This summer, the charity is hosting the UK's first Active Bystander Conference to demonstrate how this important training can empower communities to safely intervene in incidents of harassment, abuse and violence.
Keynote speakers at the event include the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt. Reverend Rachel Treweek; chair of the Race and Equality Commission Gloucestershire, Rupert Walters; Exeter University associate professor, Rachel Fenton; Dr Nathan Eisenstadt from Kindling Interventions; and Hartpury's deputy principal, Lesley Worsfold — with tickets costing £50 and limited places available to book now.
