A project that helps victims of domestic violence in Bradford has been awarded £120,000 to help fund its work over the next three years.

The Staying Put project, which claims one woman in Bradford is attacked in her own home every 55 minutes, helped more than 750 women last year.

The crucial funding which has come from the Legal Services Commission, the public body responsible for funding legal aid and advice, will pay for a full-time worker to give legal support to women who have been attacked by partners, former partners or family members and want the violence to stop but do not want to leave their home.

The project, which works from an anonymous base in the city, uses civil law to get the abuser removed from the home and ordered by the court to stop the assaults. If the woman decides to move, the project helps them find somewhere safe to live.

Staying Put co-ordinator Stuart Fogden said the funding was wonderful news for the project which gets three or four referrals every day. He said: "The funding is crucial to women in Bradford who desperately need to have legal support and advice made available to them."

Peter Nelson, Yorkshire and Humberside Director for the Legal Services Commission, said he hoped the funding would help turn around the lives of many women and children.

Shazia Khan, an expert in family law at local solicitors' firm John Kelly & Co, gives legal advice to women who have been referred by Staying Put.

He said: "It isn't acceptable for women to be hit and it's against the law. The law can be used effectively to protect women from this kind of violence. This project makes it easier for women to report the violence, get advice and take action to stop it."

Staying Put grew out of a pilot project funded by the

Home Office's Violence Against Women initiative.

It is run as a partnership, involving members of the Bradford District Domestic Violence Forum, Bradford Law Centre, Bradford Women's Aid, Bradford Council, the Family Service Unit and Keighley Domestic Violence Services. Staying Put's free 24 helpline can be contacted on 0800 085 6206.