Carole Gould with her daughter Ellie (Image: Handout)
The mothers of three women murdered by their ex-partners have blasted ministers for failing to treat domestic murders the same as attacks on strangers.
Carole Gould, Julie Devey and Elaine Newborough said the Government is signalling that domestic killers “are not as dangerous as those who murder” people outside.
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They want sentencing to be equal.
Currently, a killer who took a knife to a crime scene will face at least 25 years behind bars.
Julie Devey with daughter Poppy. (Image: Julie Devey / SWNS)
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood's proposals have been criticised (Image: Getty)
But a domestic murderer who grabs a knife from the kitchen faces a minimum of 15 years.
Under new Government plans, jealous men who murder their ex-partners will be jailed for longer.,
Judges are being told to consider tougher sentences – through new aggravating factors - for thugs who fatally strangle women or kill at the end of a relationship.
The changes to sentencing considerations, expected to come into force next year, will ensure the punishment fits the crime in the "most abhorrent" cases, a minister said.
But Gould, Devey and Newborough, in a joint statement, told the Daily Express: “By still only using the aggravating factor route to potentially harsher sentences the government are still saying that these murderers are not as dangerous as those who murder strangers outside.
“In a recent meeting we had with Minister Alex Davies-Jones and Minister Sir Nic Dakin, we had the impression that they agreed that those who murder within the home were as dangerous as those who murder strangers outside.
“It is disappointing that the Government is delaying the equality of homicide sentencing for those which take place in the home to be on a par with homicides in the street.
“These disproportionately apply to women and with all the rhetoric about halving violence against women and girls, it is hard to comprehend why they are not backing our campaign to put these dangerous offenders behind bars for longer.
“By only addressing aggravating factors, it demonstrates that victims and victims' families are not a priority for this government.
“It has taken 5 years to reach this point whereby the Ministry of Justice is still just using aggravating factors to attempt to bring Domestic Homicide in line with other murders under the banner of 'tougher sentences' when in reality this may add mere months to the custodial sentence.”
The Ministry of Justice said 85 people, mainly women, are killed by their current or ex-partner each year, mostly in the home.
Barrister Clare Wade's review of murder cases found 30% involved strangulation and 40% happened at the end, or perceived end, of a relationship - all involving female victims and male killers.
Ellie Gould, 17, was stabbed to death by Thomas Griffiths at her home in Calne, Wiltshire, in 2019.
After the relationship ended, Griffiths stabbed Ellie 13 times in the neck when she was revising on the kitchen table.
Julie's daughter, Poppy, was 24 when she was viciously murdered by her ex-partner, Joe Atkinson, in their Leeds apartment in 2019.
Poppy was set to move out of the flat the following week, and already had her bags packed.
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Atkinson stabbed Poppy 70 times in a brutal attack.
Ross McCullam attacked Megan Newborough, 23, at his home in Coalville, Leicestershire, on 6 August 2021.
The pair had been in a short relationship, having met at work.
He attacked her and strangled her to death before fetching a carving knife to cut her throat, in what the prosecution said was an attempt to decapitate her.
McCullam then bundled her body into her own car, driving her to Charley Road, near Woodhouse Eaves, where he dumped her in undergrowth behind a stone wall.
Minister for Violence Against Women and Girls, Alex Davies-Jones said: “The level of violence against women is a national crisis which this Government is determined to tackle, and that includes ensuring the punishment fits the crime for the most abhorrent crimes.
“I want to pay tribute to all those who campaigned for change in this area, including the Joanna Simpson Foundation, Killed Women, and the families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks.”
Minister for Sentencing, Sir Nic Dakin MP, added: “As a society, we now have a greater understanding of domestic abuse, so it is timely to conduct a comprehensive review of homicide law and sentencing to ensure it has kept pace.
“Campaigners have rightly brought many complex issues to the fore and the experts in the Law Commission will advise Parliament on the best reforms to deal with them.”
But campaigners warned the reforms do not “go far enough”.
The founders of the Joanna Simpson Foundation - set up in the name of a woman bludgeoned to death in 2010 by her husband, British Airways captain Robert Brown, said the Government's proposals do not go far enough.
Co-founders Diana Parkes and Hetti Barkworth-Nanton said: "We welcome and accept the need for reform.
"However, these proposals set out today by the Secretary of State for Justice fail to go far enough. The Law Commission report that this review is based on is narrow focused and only looks at legal structures, not sentencing and procedures."
They said the Government is "squandering a massive opportunity to bring all of our archaic homicide laws, sentencing and procedures into the 21st century".
But the families of the three people killed in the Nottingham attacks have welcomed a move to review homicide law and the sentencing framework for murder.
Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, were stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane in June 2023.
Calocane was handed an indefinite hospital order in January after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The Law Commission has been asked to review the overall sentencing framework for murder and the law of homicide.
This comes in response to issues raised by campaigners, including how diminished responsibility is considered and whether current sentencing rules properly reflect the seriousness of domestic murders.
A report in 2006 called on the government to consider changing homicide, currently categorised by two tiers of murder and manslaughter, into three tiers – first degree murder, second degree murder and manslaughter.
The victims' families had previously called for a change in homicide law, with Mr Webber's mother Emma saying "murderers will get away with murder".
A joint statement from the families welcomed news of the review, adding: "Our laws, practises and processes are failing, they are flawed and archaic.
"Had our laws changed, as was first proposed almost 20 years ago, [the] outcome would have been very different.
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"As it stands, we are forced to endure additional trauma in the knowledge that this individual, as well as being in receipt of full benefits, may very well be released back into our community."
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “We are cracking down on violence against women and creating safer streets.
“I fully recognise the concerns raised around homicide law and sentencing, but these are incredibly complex issues and previous tinkering is what has led to the current disparities, so it is right that the Law Commission takes a comprehensive look at it.”