Strength in numbers
Victims of violence are given voice
FAMILIES torn apart by male violence have found “strength in numbers” as they launch a campaign group to help prevent a woman being killed every three days.
Each fuelled by their own personal tragedies, 11 grieving families have joined forces to demand better laws and policies that halt violence against women.
Experts believe the Killed Women campaign group will be a “powerful force for change” in the fight for justice.
The group is demanding an end to the “culture of gross negligence” that they believe has led to many deaths and hopes to give a voice to victims’ families.
Emma Ambler, whose twin sister, Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, and nieces Ava, and Lexi, two, were killed by Kelly’s partner in 2020, told the Mirror she had felt empowered by speaking to other families torn apart by male violence.
Emma, 42, from King’s Heath, Birmingham, said: “We got talking and realised there was something about strength in numbers and raising the voice of people who have been put in this horrific position.
“My personal experience is that people don’t seem to view a domestic homicide in the same way they do a stranger killing. People just seem to accept it. So we are coming together to say we don’t want this to happen to anybody else.“
Emma in particular wants to address tougher gun control after police issued her family’s killer with a shotgun licence.
Carole Gould, mother of Ellie Gould, 17, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Wiltshire in 2019, said: “We are sick of it. Every week more women are killed and all we get are more warm words from politicians about their sadness at our loss.
“We don’t want any more sympathy. We don’t want more words on paper and promises. What we want is resources and real action on the ground to stop this tidal wave of violence and ensure justice in our courts.” Ruth Davison, CEO of charity Refuge, added: “The voices of those bereaved by male violence deserve to be heard.
“Killed Women will be a powerful force for change.”
A woman was killed by a man, on average, once every three days from 2009 to 2018, the Femicide Census shows.
We are sick of it. We don’t want any more sympathy from MPs
CAROLE GOULD MOTHER OF MURDERED TEEN ELLIE