Jade family’s bid to change law over parents who kill
AFAMILY are looking to restrict how involved killer parents can be in the upbringing of their children.
It is a fight they never thought they’d need to face after suffering an unimaginable loss.
Murderer Russell Marsh was handed a life sentence for the brutal attack that saw his estranged wife, 27-yearold Jade Marsh – also known as Jade Ward – die at his hands.
He will serve at least 15 years locked up for his horrific crime that saw the young mum, from Shotton, Flintshire, stabbed and strangled just yards away from their sleeping children last August.
However, Marsh could put Ms Marsh’s family through the torturous court process for years to come.
Despite being locked up for killing their mother, Marsh still holds his parental responsibility over the four boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
This means that he still has control over various aspects of their welfare, such as their future medical needs or if they are ever taken out of the country.
That means, for example, if the family wanted to take any of the four boys on holiday somewhere outside the UK, Marsh would have to give his permission. This would be done by way of another hearing through the family court.
In the UK, imprisonment does not automatically restrict parental responsibility. This can only happen following a voluntary agreement or if the other parent takes the incarcerated parent to court.
Ms Marsh’s family are now campaigning to make “Jade’s Law” a reality. They want to make sure that nobody else who is forced to suffer a sudden and brutal loss like they have need to endure the added pain of being faced with the killer time after time.
Family friend Edwin Duggan – a law graduate – said he was approached by Ms Marsh’s mother,
Karen Robinson, for help with the campaign. He has since launched a petition calling for the automatic suspension of parental responsibility of any parent found guilty of murdering the other parent.
He said: “I’ve known Karen since she was a teenager – through being friends with her brother about 40 years ago – and I’ve therefore known Jade since she was young. What happened to the family was utterly tragic.
“At the moment, as the law stands, Marsh still has parental responsibility. Although that is limited during his time in custody, the family are now faced with having to seek his permission for anything that relates to their welfare during the time they are in the care of anyone other than their parents.
“We all want this change in the law to create some sort of measure for future children that find themselves involved in tragic circumstances such as these and their surviving family from having to go back through further court processes.”
Mr Duggin said that a petition was set up once before in the wake of Ms Marsh’s death. However, due to the ongoing legal proceedings at the time, it proved difficult to share and generate awareness without impacting on Marsh’s then upcoming trial.
So far, the petition has been signed by more then 1,500 people from across the UK.
There is a target of gathering at least 10,000 signatures by October for the UK Government to respond.
To support the petition, go to https:// petition. parliament. uk/ petitions/614893.