In the wake of the recent sex attacks in Weston-super-Mare, martial arts expert Justin Dodd has been offering free self-defence lessons to women in the resort. Bristol Evening Post reporter Ayesha Gilani went along to pick up some tips…

“Self-defence isn’t about beating people up, it’s about buying time in the middle of a terrifying situation.” Justin Dodd’s words underlined what was probably going to be one of the most important lessons of my life.

But as I stood in his Martial Mania gym, in Churchill Road, Weston, I really didn’t know what to expect.

I had always believed that anything remotely to do with self-defence required a black belt in karate and the fitness level of an Olympic athlete.

But Justin, aged 32, assured me the moves he was going to demonstrate could be done by anyone at any age.

My first lesson was dealing with an attack to the throat. As Justin’s huge hands took hold of my neck, I felt a wave of panic at the thought that this could actually happen for real.

Justin told me that in this situation my number one priority was to breathe and to do so I had to lower my chin and grit my teeth into a smile.

As soon as I did this, my neck muscles tightened and I could feel the difference straightaway. I couldn’t quite believe I was managing to prevent two huge hands from strangling me.

The next move was to use my strongest arm and, in one quick and forceful move, push his chin away. This made Justin stumble back and I was able to make my getaway.

My next lesson was to deal with an attack from behind.

Justin locked his arm around my neck and told me to grip hold of his arm with both hands and pull down really hard while bending my knees.

Again this prevented me from choking and I was able to pull him down by falling on one knee and bringing my elbow down at the same time.

The result of this move had 6ft 3in Justin over my shoulder and crashing on the floor. As unbelievable as it sounds, I did it, and most importantly had bought the time I needed to make a getaway.

It was only a demonstration but I was already beginning to feel more confident and appreciate the importance of having a few self-defence techniques under my belt.

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