MORE than 1,700 taxi drivers in North Wales have joined a major awareness drive to tackle violence against women.

Special window stickers are being placed in every licensed cab in the region as part of the White Ribbon campaign, championed by PC Mike Taggart, whose mum was brutally murdered by his stepfather when he was 15. The appalling crime inspired the now 37-year-old to join North Wales Police, where he has confronted the issue head on as the force’s strategic domestic abuse officer.

The White Ribbon campaign is an international initiative established by men to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

North Wales police and crime commissioner Arfon Jones, who agreed to fund the sticker initiative, said he was “overjoyed” that all six local authorities in North Wales made it a condition that all licensed taxis must have the sticker on show.

“Their licencing departments for enforcement clearly understand the issues and the importance of requiring their taxies to display the White Ribbon,” he said. “Mike Taggart is doing an absolutely brilliant job and there is no one more committed to addressing domestic violence than him.”

All of North Wales Police’s 250 vehicles will also display the White Ribbon stickers.

PC Taggart still bears the emotional scars left by the trauma he and his sister, Becci, suffered as teenagers. They were utterly bereft when their mum, Donna Marie Crist, was murdered at her flat in Rhyl in 1997 by estranged husband Derek Evans after years of vicious alcohol-fuelled abuse.

Evans disliked her new-found independence after she started working with people with learning disabilities and once after she had been for a drink with friends, he attacked her in the street.

She left him but there was no escape and Evans went round to her new flat and stabbed her 11 times.

PC Taggart said that while there are also male victims of domestic abuse, the sticker campaign is “basically about empowering men to not be bystanders” to domestic abuse against women and to encourage men “to become ambassadors for the cause”.

“The majority of the perpetrators are men, and if we can target the highest level of perpetrators then hopefully we can help lower the number of them which means we will have fewer victims,” he said.

“There are 1,750 taxis in the whole of North Wales so this is a great way of getting the message out.”

He added: “The aim is to raise awareness of where support is available because we are dedicated to making sure people know they can get the help they need.”