Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
‘It’s like playing pass the parcel with my life’
CONVICTED MURDER HAS BEEN FORCED TO LIVE ON THE STREETS SINCE BEING RELEASED FROM PRISON
A CONVICTED murderer claims she has been forced to live on the streets of west London following her release from prison.
Claire Darbyshire was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of four years for murdering her dad, Brian, in 2016.
Then 36, Claire claimed she had entered into a suicide pact with her dad, but that the overdoses they had taken had not worked.
Instead, she suffocated her 67-year-old father at his home in Wykeham Green, Dagenham.
Claire was released from prison on September 12 last year and was temporarily put into a probation hostel, although she now has no place to stay after being told she could no longer live there.
In recent weeks, Claire has been sleeping rough in parks across Hounslow.
She said: “I make sure I can go to different ones as sometimes you feel unsafe if there are gangs hanging about.
“Hounslow is okay, a bit like Barking, where I am from, in that it is a busy, multicultural town.
“I am aware of a stabbing there recently but, hey, welcome to modern London.”
Claire, who featured on ITV series Welcome to HMP Belmarsh with Ross Kemp last month, says she has contacted Barking and Dagenham Council, Hounslow Council and Richmond Council in the hope of finding a home.
So far, she has had no luck. She said: “I first went to Barking and Dagenham and told them that I would not be safe in that area and could they try and get me elsewhere, but this did not happen.
“I tried Hounslow Council, who said that Richmond Council would help as I stayed in an approved premises there for four months. Richmond said I had to deal with Barking and Dagenham.
“It’s like playing pass the parcel with my life.”
Claire, who has aspirations to have a career in IT, has set up a gofundme page in the hope she can raise money which would fund her hunt for a home.
The ex-prisoner, who visited a library to set up the fundraising page, said: “I would use the funds for food and travel to different boroughs so I can try and get some safe housing and build up a life for myself.
“It would mean so much to get any help as I am only in this situation because I chose to help my father when he needed help to end his suffering.
“I have spent four years being punished for doing the morally right thing and now it seems I am still being punished.
“All I want is to be able to find somewhere safe to live and start the rest of my life.”
She added: “Unfortunately, the system has really let me down. As you can imagine, being homeless makes you extremely vulnerable, more so when you are transgender.”
Despite her tough time since being released from HM Belmarsh, in Thamesmead, Claire insists she is enjoying her freedom.
“Life after prison is great,” she said. “The freedom is wonderful. Even things such as opening doors by yourself, without an officer having to do it for you.
“I have gone from one extreme to the other – living in a 7x4 cell to living in the great outdoors.
“People said it might be hard to adapt back to life outside, but it wasn’t. If you can adapt to being in Belmarsh prison for the first time, you can adapt back to being out again.
“I just wish I had a place to live. I try to view my life as chapters in a book. Currently I am homeless, hopefully in the next chapter I will have a home.”
Claire described the harrowing moment she lay behind her dad and ended his life after their suicide pact had failed on ITV series Welcome to HMP Belmarsh with Ross Kemp.
“He had MS, was bed-bound and wanted to commit suicide, but he couldn’t do it on his own,” she said in an interview with Kemp.
“I helped him when he decided he wanted to be suffocated. He said that would be easiest because at least then he could have a hand in it, he could hold the bag.
“And I laid behind him and held the back of the bag. His breathing got quicker and quicker, and then slower. Then I heard his last breath and I knew he was gone.”
After Claire was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey, sentencing judge Recorder of London Nicholas Hilliard QC said he accepted the killing was an act of mercy.
As understandable as her motivations may have been, Claire had still unlawfully killed her dad and had no defence to the charge of murder.
She was sentenced to life in prison, with one of the shortest minimum terms – four years – in British legal history.
On the TV show, Claire, who is transgender, told Kemp prisoners had called her a “queer” and “tranny”, while one inmate once shouted “show us your tits”.
“I was always on edge,” she told Kemp when he asked about how safe she felt in the prison.
“Prison does harden you. You have no choice but to accept prison or it will eat you away.”