Father who killed girl still has legal responsibility for siblings
Worst criminals ‘should lose their parental rights’
THE mother of tragic Mylee Billingham has revealed her cruel ex continues to “make life extremely difficult” as he still has rights to their other two children – despite serving a life sentence for the eightyear-old’s murder.
Tracey Taundry’s life was turned upside down when William Billingham stabbed their young daughter to death at his Brownhills bungalow near Walsall in January last year.
Now, in memory of her daughter, Ms Taundry has launched a petition calling for a law to automatically remove the parental responsibility of someone who is convicted of a serious crime.
Ms Taundry, from Walsall , said: “I have three children. My eight-year
old daughter was murdered by my ex-partner.
“He is serving a life sentence, but he still has legal rights to my other two children, making life extremely difficult.
“Parents should not have to go to court to remove parental responsibility when a partner has committed a serious crime.
“The law needs to be changed so parental responsibility is automatically removed after conviction.”
Billingham, 55, committed the heinous crime as a “revenge” act against Ms Taundry as he was struggling to cope with her decision to start a new relationship.
Moments before he stabbed Mylee, he threatened to kill Ms Taundry in what had initially appeared to be a normal and civil exchange outside his home.
She then heard something drop on the floor and was horrified to see it was a kitchen knife at Billingham’s feet.
She slipped over while trying to get away from him, at which point Billingham grabbed a screaming Mylee and dragged her back into his bungalow. He was later found with Mylee on the kitchen floor – she had been stabbed in the chest and despite the valiant efforts of police and medics she died later that evening in hospital.
Billingham had a superficial knife wound on his neck and stab injuries to his stomach.
The unemployed factory worker, who opted not to give evidence during his trial at Birmingham Crown Court, claimed he had no memory of stabbing Mylee.
He claimed he was only guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter due to depression.
However, after retiring to consider the evidence, a jury decided he was guilty of her murder and he was later sentenced to life imprisonment and told he would serve a minimum term of 27 years.
Ms Taundry’s petition has already been signed by more than 1,800 supporters and will be considered for a debate by MPs in Parliament if it reaches 100,000 signatures by December 18.