David Lammy had gone quiet. Sitting in his ministerial office in the Palace of Westminster, the justice secretary had just been presented with pictures of women killed by their partners in their own homes, by their grieving mothers.<\/p>\n
As she put the photographs in front of him, Carole Gould explained that her 17-year-old daughter, Ellie, was killed by fellow sixth-former<\/a> Thomas Griffiths the day after she ended their relationship in 2019. Julie Devey, who was joining the call remotely, showed a photograph of her daughter, Poppy Devey Waterhouse<\/a>, who was 24 when she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Joe Atkinson, on 14 December 2018.<\/p>\n In both cases the young women were stabbed repeatedly; both killers tried to hide their crimes. But because they had been attacked in a domestic setting, with weapons used from their homes, their killers faced a maximum sentence of 15 years \u2013 10 years fewer than if they had been murdered in the street or by a weapon brought to the murder scene. Atkinson\u2019s sentence was fixed at 16 years; Griffiths got 12 and a half years. It was, the mothers said, like their daughter\u2019s lives were worth a decade less.<\/p>\n Carole Gould, whose daughter Ellie was killed in 2019, was watching from the public gallery as Lammy announced the plans. Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Gould, frustrated after seven years of campaigning, looked Lammy in the eye and said: \u201cImagine this was your daughter.\u201d The justice minister, who has described adopting his daughter<\/a> as \u201cthe best thing he and his wife ever did\u201d alongside having their two sons, appeared shocked. The pair also showed photographs of women whose killers were sentenced in 2026, after new measures to deliver longer sentences<\/a> for domestic murders if aggravating factors, such as domestic abuse or overkill, were involved. Their killers also received lower sentences. The measures weren\u2019t working, said Devey.<\/p>\n \u201cI said: \u2018That\u2019s got to change. Whatever you\u2019re doing at the moment is not working. What power have you got?\u2019\u201d recalled Devey. Lammy, they say, insisted he did have power. So Gould interjected: \u201cWell, if you\u2019ve got the power, David, why don\u2019t you just level up sentencing all to 25 years?\u201d<\/p>\n There was another moment of quiet before he replied: \u201cAll right, I will.\u201d The women looked at each other. For a few moments, no one spoke. \u201cWe\u2019re just a bit stunned, thinking have we heard this right?\u201d said Gould. \u201cAnd then we just burst into tears.\u201d<\/p>\n Julie Devey, whose daughter Poppy was killed in 2018, said they will continue the campaign. Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Devey and Gould, alongside Elaine Newborough, the mother of 23-year-old Megan Newborough, who was murdered by her boyfriend Ross McCullam<\/a> in 2021, watched from the public gallery. Lammy \u2013 who had been \u201cdeeply moved\u201d by the mothers\u2019 stories and was pleased to be able to deliver for them, according to a source \u2013 stood and said that murderers who kill their current or ex-partner in England and Wales will now face the prospect of an extra 10 years behind bars<\/a>. The mothers held on to each other, tissues in hand, as their families let out a short, cathartic cheer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very emotional,\u201d said Newborough, who also attended the meeting that laid the path for this moment two months ago. \u201cIt is amazing, but it\u2019s just so sad that it\u2019s been so hard. It is a bit overwhelming to be here on this momentous occasion. Our girls will be so proud of us, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n It has been a long road to this point. Devey, who had been campaigning with her family, reached out to Gould after hearing her talk about her daughter on television, and the pair started working together just before the Covid pandemic struck. Two years later, in a cafe in London, they took turns to tell the Guardian about the loved ones they had lost<\/a> and why they had joined forces to launch Killed Women<\/a> \u2013 a campaigning organisation led by families of women killed by men.<\/p>\n Elaine Newborough, whose daughter Megan was killed in 2021, said: \u2018Our girls will be so proud of us.\u2019 Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Under former chief executive Anna Ryder \u2013 who was brought into government as an adviser on violence against women and girls earlier this year \u2013 they launched the \u201cYou were told\u201d campaign<\/a> in 2023, highlighting failures in a system that ignored warning signs. In 2024 their Fallen Women campaign<\/a> put pressure on police to examine whether domestic abuse was a factor in cases where women had fallen from a height to their deaths.<\/p>\n The same year, they worked with the Guardian on its Killed Women Count campaign<\/a>, which reported on every known death of every woman allegedly killed by a man throughout 2024, thanks to the recording of Counting Dead Women and the Femicide Census<\/a>. And in 2025 Invisible Women highlighted the systemic failures that leaves black, minoritised and migrant abuse victims particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n Jess Phillips, who has supported the group since its inception, was present to shepherd families into the Commons chamber on Tuesday. Devey approached the MP for Birmingham Yardley, who has read out the names of women killed in the UK by men<\/a> in parliament for the past 11 years, at one of her book signings. \u201cI told her that she had read out the name of my daughter,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd she just stood up and gave me the biggest hug.\u201d<\/p>\n MP Jess Phillips (second right, with Newborough, Devey and Gould) has supported Killed Women since the group\u2019s inception. Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Phillips, who resigned as safeguarding minister in May<\/a>, said the women \u2013 who lobbied Keir Starmer while he was still leader of the opposition \u2013 had righted a \u201cfundamental unfairness\u201d in the criminal justice system. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really long journey, and I\u2019m so glad to see it come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n The new measure, which is subject to consultation with the sentencing council, is not perfect, campaigners have noted. The domestic abuse commissioner, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said she was disappointed the sentencing increase will not apply when a victim is killed by a family member, including sons killing their mothers<\/a> and so-called \u2018\u201chonour\u201d-based abuse.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll keep going,\u201d said Devey. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to stop now.\u201d Gould is also focused on raising the new guidelines when her daughter\u2019s killer faces the Parole Board. \u201cThis is a recognition that he is as dangerous as someone inside for 25 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But they will allow themselves a moment of satisfaction. Gould remembers that, after her daughter\u2019s killer was sentenced, the family\u2019s barrister told her the law \u201cwas cold\u201d and there was nothing they could do about sentencing guidelines. \u201cI always thought, from that moment onwards: \u2018I\u2019m going to show you one day this is wrong,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd today we have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Lammy had gone quiet. 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