Jealous ex-partners who strangle victims face extra extreme jail punishment

Jealous ex-partners and murderers who strangle victims or kill them at the end of a relationship face severe jail time under a change to the law.

In a victory for the Mirror ’s Justice for our Daughters campaign, judges must consider stronger sentences for murders involving strangulation or when the killing is connected to the end of a relationship. The changes, due to come into force in England and Wales next year, are part of the Labour government’s drive to crackdown on violence against women and girls.

In an independent review on domestic killings, barrister Clare Wade found 30% of the murders she analysed involved strangulation and 40% occurred at the end, or perceived end, of the relationship. In both these scenarios all victims were female and all killers men. In response, ministers have announced two new statutory aggravating factors to address them.

The Law Commission has also been asked to review the overall sentencing framework for murder and the law of homicide. The Ministry of Justice said the current murder sentencing framework has not been properly reviewed since its introduction in 2003. It said this has led to “piecemeal changes” which have created “inconsistencies” in sentencing in the two decades since.

This includes the 25-year starting point for murders where a knife has been taken to the scene with intent, compared to the 15-year starting point normally applied if a knife already at the scene is used. This means domestic murders committed in the home with a weapon often receive a lower sentence than those committed with a weapon in public places.

The Mirror has campaigned for domestic abuse killers to receive 25 years in jail whether the weapon is already at the scene or not. We have also demanded the law be updated so that when someone is fatally strangled the method of killing is regarded as an aggravating factor and carries a longer sentence. Every year around 85 people – overwhelmingly women – are killed by their current or ex-partner, and most of the time these crimes take place in the home.

But founders of the Joanna Simpson Foundation – set up in the name of a woman bludgeoned to death in 2010 by her husband, British Airways captain Robert Brown – said Labour’s proposals do not go far enough. They said the Government is “squandering a massive opportunity to bring all of our archaic homicide laws, sentencing and procedures into the 21st century”.

Co-founders Diana Parkes and Hetti Barkworth-Nanton said: “We welcome and accept the need for reform. However, these proposals set out today by the Secretary of State for Justice fail to go far enough. The Law Commission report that this review is based on is narrow focused and only looks at legal structures, not sentencing and procedures.”

The families of the victims of Valdo Calocane welcomed the review announcement. Calocane stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar as they returned from a night out in Nottingham in the early hours of June 13 last year, before killing 65-year-old Ian Coates. Calocane was handed an indefinite hospital order in January after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The families branded it a “gross miscarriage of justice”. Welcoming the sentencing review, they said: “Because of our dogged pursuit for justice, answers, accountability and change it appears as though some progress is being made.”

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “I fully recognise the concerns raised around homicide law and sentencing, but these are incredibly complex issues and previous tinkering is what has led to the current disparities, so it is right that the Law Commission takes a comprehensive look at it.”

Minister for violence against women and girls Alex Davies-Jones said: “The level of violence against women is a national crisis which this Government is determined to tackle, and that includes ensuring the punishment fits the crime for the most abhorrent crimes. I want to pay tribute to all those who campaigned for change in this area, including the Joanna Simpson Foundation, Killed Women, and the families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks.”