A mental health activist who dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being the victim of a violent crime has joined a national victims' panel designed to call for improvements in governent policy.

Sarah Barrett, who has been campaigning to raise awareness about mental health issues, said it was a 'huge honour' to join Labour MP Keir Starmer's Victims' Forum at the House of Commons.

Her mother Cath Pickles will also sit on the former director of public prosecutions' panel.

Miss Barrett, who lives near Southwold, said: 'I'm so pleased that I'm being given this opportunity to give a voice to younger people who are victims of crime.'