COASTAL FEAR
‘My blood ran cold & I was too scared to leave the sea as lone man watched me’ – why women fear visiting the beach alone
There's been a spate of serious attacks taking place at the seaside and many happen in broad daylight
LAURA Lake’s heart rate quickened and her blood ran cold as she spotted a lone male stranger watching her swim from the otherwise empty beach.
It was a cold March morning and Laura was taking a dip, as the 29-year-old healthcare worker had done countless times before without a second thought - but suddenly she felt very vulnerable.
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Faced with no other option, she hurried out of the water and avoided eye contact with the man, who was in his fifties and wearing an oversized coat, while she quickly dressed and planned her escape route.
But as Laura turned to leave the beach in Somerset near her home she quickly realised she was being followed.
Speaking exclusively about the incident Laura recalls: “I’d gone for a morning dip just like I’d done hundreds of times before, when suddenly I spotted a lone stranger on the shore, hovering near my things.
"My heart started beating quicker and my blood just ran cold as I suddenly realised there was no one else around and just how vulnerable I was, and it was terrifying."
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Half dressed and vulnerable
And since that day in March last year she hasn't dared to go back to the beach alone.
She adds: “Up until that point, I’d regularly visit the beaches on my own - in the summer several times a week - either first thing in the morning to try and catch sunrise or late in the evenings after work for a dip or to run, whatever the season - even in December.
“On this particular day I started to feel quite vulnerable and felt scared to get out of the sea - but I obviously had no choice, and I felt trapped.
"When I approached the beach he watched me get out of the water, so I grabbed my stuff to move closer to the car park to get changed.
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“He followed me, and started to come over. I suddenly realised I was in a really vulnerable position in a secluded spot, and only half dressed.
“Thankfully a group turned up at the beach with their dog at that moment, and I quickly got into my car and locked the doors before driving to a more populated car park where I could calm down and finish getting changed.
“I felt shocked, and was annoyed and frustrated that as a woman I had to think about how I’d ‘seemingly put myself in danger’ just by wanting to go to the beach."
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Raped in the sea, stabbed on the beach
According to 2021 census data, four in five women felt unsafe walking alone after dark in a park or other open space, compared to two in five men.
And there’s been a spate of worrying and serious attacks taking place at the seaside specifically, many in broad daylight.
Just last month a teenage girl was allegedly raped and another sexually assaulted on a beach in Bournemouth at 7:30pm one Sunday evening, with a man charged over the sex attacks.
In April, Gabriel Marinoaica, 20, was jailed for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of rape in the same city, after dragging his 15-year-old victim out into the sea where she was unable to swim and attacking her in front of a packed beach.
And shockingly, 34-year-old personal trainer Amie Gray, from Poole in Dorset, was stabbed to death on Durley Chine Beach on Friday, May 24.
A 20-year-old man from London has since been charged with murder, and a 38-year-old woman also suffered serious injuries during the attack.
In Margate, Kent, house prices have soared recently, despite having a crime rate of 157 incidents per 1,000 people in 2023 – 79 per cent higher than the national crime rate in England and Wales.
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'You think of holidays, sunshine'
Jen Smith-Furmage, Core Member and lead facilitator for , the group who campaigned to make public sexual harassment against the law, says: “There are so many positive associations with the beach - you think of holidays, a nice time, sunshine.
"You don’t think about danger, particularly if you’re not from that area and you’ve just visited to have a lovely day.
“We know that a lot of women are constantly ‘safety planning’ when they leave the house in all public places, whether that’s at the gym, schools, colleges and the beach. It’s really sad.
“We should never just rely on educating victims - it’s down to the perpetrator to change their behaviour.”
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'It makes me angry'
For Laura, she used to regularly and happily to the beach alone.
She moved to Somerset four years ago after growing up in landlocked Birmingham.
She now lives a thirty minute drive from her local beaches, including the one where she encountered the stranger, and used to visit on her own regularly for a sea swim or coastal run.
She says: “I originally moved for work and was only going to stay for a few years, but fell in love with the area, partly because it’s so close to the beach and I just love everything about it - swimming, running along the beach, I have a kayak and paddle-board and all of that.
“I know so many women who feel the same too. When we’re told about beach safety we’re told about water safety, and not swimming too far out - never personal safety.
“I haven’t dared go back on my own ever since to swim, and if I’m running or walking I now have a dog, which does make me feel safer thankfully.
“I was so upset about the Bournemouth beach stabbing - I was shocked but sadly not surprised. We’re so much more vulnerable.
"I felt so sorry for these women and their families and it also made me think even more about going to the beach alone."
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Homelessness, drugs and drunken violence: Residents no longer feel safe in deteriorating beach town
Locals in a seaside town where a woman was fatally stabbed on the beach and another was seriously hurt say they no longer feel safe at night.
Amie Gray, a 34-year-old football coach, was killed and Leanne Miles, 38, was seriously injured in the attack on Bournemouth beach just before midnight on May 24.
The genteel seaside resort in Dorset, once popular with young families and elderly couples looking for a break on the coast, has more recently been likened to the 'Wild West' after a rise in stabbings, sexual assaults and antisocial behaviour.
Those living in the town say it has deteriorated in recent years as problems with homelessness, drugs and drunken violence has risen and people do not feel safe going out after dark.
Some have moved out of Bournemouth to safer areas, while others say they avoid the town centre and beaches at night, when crime seems to escalate.
Many blamed a lack of police presence and a lack of investment and shops closing down for the town's demise.
Nicola Childs Ford, 22, a make up student at Arts University Bournemouth, said: "It is definitely getting worse.
"I lived in Bournemouth last year, but this year my partner and I moved out to Poole because it's much safer.
"In Southampton there are certain parks you avoid but in Bournemouth it feels like the whole area should be avoided, especially around the square itself.
"One of my friends was bottled by a group of teenagers just for being in the Square. Thankfully they were with a big group of people so the group scared them off but I could have ended up a lot worse."
Photographer Elena White, 38, said: "I've lived in Bournemouth for 13 years and it didn't used to be like this, it's definitely got worse in the last couple years.
"I wouldn't go out at night anymore. There's been quite a few stabbings, there's a lot of incidents of migrants attacking people, especially in the summer, people coming from London and other places and causing problems with anti-social behaviour on the beach."
Stalking 'warning'
Teacher Lauren Whedbee, 31, agrees. She has lived by the sea her whole life, growing up in Brighton, going to Bournemouth University and now settling in Worthing, where she works as a primary school teacher.
She started to feel unsafe when at Bournemouth Uni, and now would never dream of going to the beach by herself.
We would have happily walked along the seafront - but we stopped doing that, as we were worried about the possibility of being attacked."
Lauren Whedbee
She says: "Growing up, going to the beach alone or after dark didn't phase me at all, and as a teen I'd always felt safe.
"Then, when I went to university in Bournemouth I started to be aware of a few incidents that began to make me think.
"We were warned there was someone 'stalking' women and I remember even my parents phoned from home, worried.
"Up until that point I hadn't really considered we could be in any danger, and before that on nights out - or even on the way home - we would have happily walked along the seafront - but we stopped doing that, as we were worried about the possibility of being attacked.
"I still have friends who live in Bournemouth, and they say they have seen the change in atmosphere that would mean I would never go to the beach there alone.
"Now, I have two dogs but I would never, ever walk them along the seafront alone - it just feels vulnerable as it's quite quiet where we are and there's not loads of people around."
'It can be really remote & isolated'
While women have always worried about their safety in open spaces, to feel that way at the beach and seaside seems to be more surprising.
Lauren adds: "When people think of the beach, they think of bustling, busy areas full of happy holidaymakers, but it can be really remote and isolated.
“It feels like more of a thing now, and certain areas of the beach can be quite 'alley way' like - dark and secluded.
"Maybe I'm just more aware of their similarities now, and it's made me more wary."
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'It must be reported'
Sadly, because harassment happens so frequently, it's something women have become desensitised to - and from a very young age.
Our Streets Now's Jen adds: “The beach it’s quite a similar situation to the gym - we know harassment happens there because you’re in your workout wear, you might be feeling a bit self conscious - unfortunately that can be seen as an opportunity.
“All we can do as women is talk about it - so many don’t.
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"If something happens it should ideally be reported, so the police can build up a picture of any patterns and know where to increase police presence too - although reporting incidents can be traumatic."
Laura adds: "It makes me so angry women have to think like this when wanting to do simple, every day activities, like visiting the beach alone - we shouldn't ever have to fear for our safety in this way."
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