"I'm an ex-Jehovah's Witness - I felt shunned by my church after my divorce and leaving was the best decision for me"

An ex-Jehovah's Witness who felt "shunned" by her church after her divorce believes leaving her congregation was the best decision she's made. Ieva Brown, 41, joined the Jehovah's Witnesses - a Christian-based religious group - in 1996 at just 14 years old after attending a bible group in Latvia with a friend. After moving to England in 1999, Ieva joined a local group before marrying a non-believer - who then converted. But a decade later their marriage broke down. Ieva claims she felt "shunned" by her church community due to strict divorce beliefs. Feeling ''isolated and shamed'', Ieva says she became so stressed she was too unwell to leave the house and suffered exhaustion and anxiety.