Women urged to be vigilant after ‘sinister’ items found

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Women urged to be vigilant after ‘sinister’ items found

Women are urged to stay vigilant and police patrols have increased after a bag containing several “sinister” items was discovered in Coleraine, County Londonderry.

Cable ties, blue surgical gloves, condoms, a change of clothes and a balaclava were in the bag, former justice minister Claire Sugden told

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on Wednesday.

The assembly member said she is also aware of reports of a woman being followed by an individual in the Strand Road area of the town recently.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the bag and a bicycle had been seized in the Strand Road area of the town on 13 February.

Women’s safety

“It certainly does feel sinister, the reported items that were found. It certainly gives rise to really evil intentions,” Sugden told the BBC.

“I think it’s difficult for any of us to imagine what those items would be used for.

“I think that’s why there has been such a response in Coleraine, particularly from women who are starting to feel unsafe.

“There was reports over a week ago from a women who felt she was being followed in the same area.

“It’s a general concern for women, as a 38-year-old woman I wouldn’t feel safe walking around the town at night.”

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Police said their investigation regarding the rucksack and bicycle seizure is ongoing and they are “progressing a number of lines of inquiry”.

They said there has been an increased police presence in the area.

On social media platform X, the PSNI also said that a mobile police station was also deployed in the Strand Road after “recent posts on social media regarding reports of a suspicious male in the Coleraine area”.

The PSNI has increased its presence in the area with a mobile police station [Police Service of Northern Ireland]

Ms Sugden said these incidents in Coleraine follow

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.

“Women have to be really conscious to their surroundings, they have to be aware that maybe they are not safe while walking along at night, they have to take precautions in relation to that,” she said.

“Regrettably, I am saying be aware, be careful, if they [women] are walking out at night, preferably don’t go alone.”

She added: “Women are not feeling safe, when things like this happen, unfortunately it is men who usually are the perpetrators around this, I appreciate that men absolutely can be victims too.”

‘There is real concern’

Chief executive officer of Causeway and Mid Ulster Women’s Aid, Sharon Burnett, said many women in the area were “very nervous” and said she wanted to reassure them that help and support is available.

“Every woman should be free and safe to walk on the streets,” Ms Burnett said.

“We don’t know if this a real threat, but there is real concern, she said.

“This is a topic of hot discussion among women that we support and among our staff team because it is something that has been widely discussed in the local area.”

Police resources

Sugden said police are doing all they can with the limited resources that are currently available to them.

“The police will respond to things like this happening, they have a role in keeping people safe, people say to me that visibility on the ground is key to that,” she said.

“To be fair to the police, resources just aren’t there for them.

“What’s our government doing? We have this fantastic strategy to end violence against women and girls but what practical things, tangible things can we do on the ground?”

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