A woman from Thundersley ready to bring a Ukrainian family into her home has urged others to do the same.

Sarah Aldridge, 33, said she is prepared to take a family of refugees into her home on Heart Road saying more needed to be done to ensure both refugees had a place to stay.

With a master bedroom upstairs currently used by her three children as a playroom she said the room could be used by a family of three.

Although she has not declared her interest to take in refugees on the dedicated government website, as she will need permission from her landlord first, she said she did not even need to see the harrowing images from Ukraine before she decided to help.

She said: “The last thing a family will want in this situation is to split up. Early on when we first started hearing about the crisis me and my husband said ‘we want to try and get involved somehow.’

“We obviously can’t go over and do any humanitarian work or anything like that, but we both said before this housing scheme came out that we’d be interested.

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She added: “It’s just human to human isn’t it. If that was us what would we want people to do for us, what would make us feel better. It would be things like that.”

Not everyone has been as enthusiastic however. After saying she would be happy to take in refugees on Facebook groups some gave negative comments talking about a potential increase in crime.

However, Mrs Aldridge called these claims “rubbish” and said she was committed to looking after those coming potentially coming from traumatic situations.

She added; “What could be true is that people are going to be faced with severe PTSD, it might make them more flighty, might make them a little bit aggressive but it’s never going to be towards another person.  

“I wouldn’t be afraid of it but that’s what they’re needing help with, to move away from that and carry on with a life.

“I just urge people to not let fear take over. Let your heart lead and just think how you would want to be treated. It really is as simple as that sometimes.”