FAMILIES who have lost loved ones to violent crimes have slammed Labour for failing to consider bereaved children in their VAWG strategy.
Sons and daughters of those who were killed by their partners say their lives should be included in the Government’s aim to halve violence against women and girls.
Every year around 200 children are bereaved by domestic homicide.
The long-awaited VAWG (Violence against women and girls) strategy was published this week and includes plans to teach boys about misogyny in schools.
When Roann Court was only 15 when she witnessed her mum murdered by her abusive ex-partner.
Benjamin Cooper slit her mum Claire Marshall’s throat with a pen knife before attempting to sever her head.
READ MORE ON DOMESTIC ABUSE
Roann, now 31, said: “After my mum was killed by domestic abuse, there was no support for me or for the family members who became my carers.
“They took on parenting responsibilities suddenly, while coping with grief and legal processes, yet there was no coordinated or specialist support available to us.
“Excluding children and carers bereaved by domestic homicide from this strategy is deeply disappointing. It reinforces the message that once a homicide occurs, families like mine are no longer seen. Without explicit inclusion, children and carers will continue to fall through the gaps, just as we did.”
Diana Parkes CBE, Co-Founder of The Joanna Simpson Foundation and mother of Joanna Simpson, said: “Having lost my daughter to domestic homicide, I know exactly how devastating the impact is on the children and carers left behind after such brutal acts.
“It is unacceptable that the Government’s strategy fails to recognise them in any meaningful way. Families living with the consequences of domestic homicide cannot be treated as an afterthought. They should be not left invisible in a national strategy.”
Linda Westcarr, mother of Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, said: “As a grandmother raising a child after losing my daughter to domestic homicide, I know that families cannot survive on promises alone.
“I know the devastating reality behind the headlines. Nothing prepares you for the pain, the fear, or the overwhelming responsibility of trying to rebuild a child’s life after such violence. Those of us who become carers carry not only our own grief but also the child’s trauma, while shouldering the responsibility of keeping them safe, stable, and loved.
“That is why it is heartbreaking and deeply frustrating to see the UK Government publish this strategy without explaining when Jade’s Law will be written into policy and put into practice so it can actually be used.
“Families cannot survive on promises alone. The absence of any clear implementation plan sends a painful message that families like mine have once again been forgotten.”
Other campaigners who are calling out Labour include Hollie Out, whose mother Angela Crompton was killed when she was 15, and Jodie Edith, whose stepsister Laura Mortimer and her 11-year-old niece Ella Dalby were killed in 2018.
