Poppy Devey Waterhouse and Ellie Gould were murdered by their ex-boyfriends
A barrister who led a review into how domestic killers are sentenced said she is “disappointed” her report has not been adopted in full.
Clare Wade recommended 17 reforms she said were needed to ensure justice for victims of abuse in serious cases.
The government is proceeding with some of them initially, including longer sentences for killers with a history of coercive control or extreme violence.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said other proposals are being considered.
Ms Wade’s report – published on Friday – recognised that the majority of people killed in domestic cases where there is a background of abuse are women attacked by men.
It was commissioned following the deaths of Ellie Gould 17, and Poppy Devey Waterhouse, 24, who were both stabbed to death in their homes by male partners.
Under the government’s plans, judges will be required by law to consider a history of coercive or controlling behaviour as an aggravating factor when deciding on a jail term, meaning those offenders will serve longer behind bars.
Changes will also ensure judges hand down longer sentences where “overkill” – or excessive violence – has been used.
Mr Raab told the BBC he is committed to cracking down on violence against women – but the head of the review warned the proposals “won’t achieve the justice they are intended to achieve if they are all only implemented in part”.
Ms Wade was asked by the government in September 2021 to review sentencing guidelines after ministers were warned about “systemic misogyny within the criminal justice system” by the victims’ commissioner and domestic abuse commissioner.
She said she was concerned the government is pressing ahead with making a history of controlling or coercive behaviour an aggravating factor – but without enshrining it in law as a mitigating factor for when victims who kill their abusers.
Ms Wade, who was the defence barrister for Sally Challen when she became the first woman to have her murder conviction quashed under coercive control laws, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the government’s approach “will make matters much worse for women who kill their abusive partners”.
Mr Raab told the BBC he was “very sympathetic” to the mitigation argument but insisted he would take time between now and the summer to look at the remaining measures “carefully and not in a knee-jerk way”.
Ms Wade found that under the current rules women who kill a dangerous and abusive partner with a weapon can be jailed for longer than men who use their physical strength to murder.
That is because of guidelines mandating a higher starting sentence for crimes where a weapon is used – a rule which was introduced to tackle street knife violence – which Ms Wade wants to be discounted in domestic cases.
Campaigners have previously said that the law inadvertently leads to higher sentences for women who use a weapon to defend themselves from a violent partner or ex, but the government has not adopted this recommendation.
The barrister said “two or three” of her recommendations had been adopted – but she had been told by the government that today’s announcement is “interim”.
Mr Raab told BBC Breakfast he was “looking at the wider recommendations” and had announced measures that can be introduced swiftly.
Other recommendations in the report which have not yet been adopted include:
- making strangulation as a method of killing an aggravating factor
- longer sentences when a murder happens at the end of a relationship, or when a victim has expressed the desire to leave a relationship
- introducing defences for people who are prosecuted after killing an abusive partner
Mr Raab said he wasn’t able to provide a timetable for when the changes would be implemented.
The government is expected to set out a full response to the review in the summer and legislation “will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows”, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said.
Image source, PA Media
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said he was committed to making sentences tougher for domestic killers
As well as ensuring that judges take coercive control and extreme violence into account, the government will also:
- launch a public consultation on sentences, considering whether there should be a 25-year starting point for crimes of this kind
- review manslaughter sentencing guidelines around so-called “rough sex” deaths to ensure stricter sentences
Carole Gould and Julie Devey, whose daughters’ murders by ex-partners led to the review, welcomed the changes but told the BBC they would wait to see what weight the aggravating factors were actually given in court.
Ms Gould told the BBC she would like to see a 25-year starting point for jail sentences where extreme violence was a factor, which she said would have doubled her daughter’s killer’s sentence.
Ellie Gould, from Wiltshire, was stabbed to death by Thomas Griffiths, then 17, in 2019. He was jailed for 12-and-a-half years, with his age a factor in his sentence.
“In Ellie’s case she was strangled and then she was stabbed 13 times. So these murders are particularly violent and brutal and I think we need to push to make sure that’s recognised in the sentencing,” she said.
Ms Devey, whose daughter Poppy Devey Waterhouse was stabbed 49 times in 2018, said the problem would be how much extra time was added on for the new aggravating factors.
Ms Wade said she did not advocate introducing a 25-year starting point, adding the “system is not designed to be applied mechanistically”, and called for emphasis to be put on the history of abuse rather than relying on an automatic sentence requirement.
