Father of murdered girl made OBE for campaign work
The father of a young woman who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend has warned of the dangers of "negative role models" as he received his OBE.
Nick Gazzard's daughter Hollie, 20, was killed in the Gloucester hair salon where she worked in 2014 after ending a year-long relationship.
Mr Gazzard set up the Hollie Gazzard Trust following his daughter's death and has been campaigning about domestic abuse and stalking since. He was made an OBE by the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace on Friday.
"We always said that we would have a legacy for Hollie, and we want to do good work in the area to try and prevent the Hollies of the future happening," he said.
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Mr Gazzard stressed the importance of educating young people about gender-based and domestic violence.
"It's 11 years since we've lost Hollie, and during that time we have made some progress, but it's the old adage of two steps forward, one step back.
"And the problem is not going away."
He warned that "negative role models" can create issues for young men.
"There's lots of pressures around at the moment, particularly for young men, with some of the role models that are out there.
"So it's about trying to educate young people in particular, about what domestic abuse is so that we can prevent individuals from becoming perpetrators", he added.
Mr Gazzard, who lives in Longlevens, Gloucester, said it was also important to teach young people about stalking.
"We can get to victims when they're young, because they might not identify that they're being stalked or that they've been stalked, or they're being abused, because sometimes it can be very subtle in how it's done," he said.
"The younger we can talk to individuals, the more education we get out of there.
"Hopefully, we can prevent more people going through what Hollie went through."
On receiving his OBE, Mr Gazzard said: "It's a real honour to receive this on behalf of those individuals who are victims and survivors of domestic abuse and stalking, because we know how devastating it can be when you lose someone."
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https://holliegazzard.org/
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