Yearly Archives: 2025

Unknown's avatar

2025

by

We have recorded at least 99 UK women and girls aged 13 and over who have been killed in 2025 in circumstances in which a man or men are primary suspects. We know that over the course of the next weeks and months, this figure will increase as cases that received little media coverage go to trial and Femicide Census FOIs to police forces reveal further deaths, or even more women’s deaths are identified as homicides:

  1. 10 January 2025: Maleta (Milly) Rosevear, 60, was killed with a pickaxe handle at her home in Illogan, Cornwall. Police believe she was killed by her short-term partner, Adrian Lawrence, 59, who then killed himself.
  2. 16 January 2025: Laleh Zarejouneghani, 27, was stabbed to death at a property in Ashford, Surrey. Milad Ghafari, 34, has been charged with her murder.
  3. 20 January 2025: Jamelatu Tsiwah, 31, was found dead at a property in Croydon, South London. Larry Nimoh, 21 has been charged with her murder.
  4. 20 January 2025: Dianne Cleary, 46 was found dead at a property in Luton, Bedfordshire. Jacob Clark, 25, has been charged with murder and GBH. Another woman was injured and survived.
  5. 22 January 2025: Claire Chick, 48, was stabbed to death outside her home, in Plymouth. Paul Butler, 53, was her husband, but they were separated. He has pleaded guilty to murder and sentenced to a minimum of 26yrs and 277 days.
  6. January 2025: Julie Buckley, 54, has been missing since the end of January, from Cambridgeshire. Police believe there is evidence she has “come to serious harm”, and they have charged Karl Hutchings, 47, with murder.
  7. 23 January 2025: Margaret Worby, 84, was killed via being hit with a hammer multiple times at the home she shared with her husband, in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Her husband Roger Worby, 83, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, this plea was accepted. He was sentenced to 21 months.
  8. 3 February 2025: Jane Riddell, 61, was found dead in a property in Huddersfield, W. Yorkshire. Her son, Lee Scott Riddell, 35, was also dead and police are believing he killed her and then himself. No one else is being sought in relation to the killing of Jane Riddell.
  9. 6 February 2025: Dawn Kerr, 56, was found dead at her home in Aveyron, France. Police believe she was killed by ‘multiple blows to the head’ and her husband, Andrew Searle, 62, had killed her and then killed himself.
  10. 9 February 2025: Carmen Coulson, 67, was stabbed to death at her home in Longthorpe, Peterborough. Her son, Gregory Coulson, 30, has been charged with murder.
  11. 9 February 2025: Victoria Adams, 37, was beaten to death at her home in Hammersmith, London. Apapale Adoum, 39, a man with no permanent address whom she had met days earlier and taken into her home, [RA1] has been charged with her murder.
  12. 11 February 2025: Megan Hughes, 31 was stabbed and beaten to death at the home she shared with her partner in Chirnside, Scotland. Her partner, Corey Dryden, 31 has been convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 18 yrs.
  13. 12 February 2025: Rita Lambourne, 58, was killed in her home in Bexhill, East Sussex, with an axe. Donald Excell, 48, has been charged with her murder.
  14. 14 February 2025: Lisa Smith, 43 was shot dead outside a pub in Knockholt, Kent. Police believe she was killed by her husband, Edward Smith (also known as Edward or Edvard Stockings), who then killed himself.
  15. 26 February 2025: Simone Smith, 35, was found dead at her home in Peterborough. Police believe she was killed by Cody Parker, 27, who then killed himself.
  16. 27 February 2025: Leanne Williams, 47, was killed at her home in Townhill, Swansea. Matthew Battenbough, 33, has been charged with murder.
  17. 28 February 2025: Ana Maria Murariu, 45 was found dead at a property in Perivale, West London. Mugurel Nica, 50 has been charged with her murder.
  18. 1 March 2025: Brigitta Rasuli, 53, died after having been found with serious injuries in Slough, Berkshire. Her husband Samir Rasuli, 58, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
  19. 8 March 2025: Anjela Chetty, 60, was found dead in Andover, Hampshire. A second woman also suffered severe injuries. Sashin Vishay Kumardew, 31, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
  20. 9 March 2025: Joanne Penney, 40, was shot dead in a flat in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Marcus Huntley, 20; Jordan Mills-Smith, 33; Joshua Gordon, 27; and Tony Porter, 68, have been charged with her murder and with engaging in the criminal activities of an organised crime group.
  21. 11 March 2025: Michelle Egge-Bailey, 54, was found dead at a house in Bradford, Yorkshire. Stephen Lawton, 45, has been charged with her murder.
  22. 17 March 2025: Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, was found dead in a stairwell in Walworth, London. Simon Levy, 40, has also been charged with killing Sheryl Wilkins months later, and he is charged with rape, GBH and non-fatal strangulation of another woman in January.
  23. 21 March 2025: Rachel Dixon, 49, was found dead at a home in Clacton-on-Sea. Her son, Oliver Grange, 24, has been charged with her murder.
  24. 31 March 2025: Paramjit Kaur, 46, died at a house in Oldbury, West Midlands. Harminder Mattu, 50, has been charged with murder.
  25. 31 March 2025: Claire Anderson, (‘30s or 40s’) originally from Suffolk, England, was found dead at her home in New Zealand. Her husband Ben Anderson, (also ‘30s or 40s’) was also dead and the police believed she was killed by Ben before he killed himself.
  26. 7 April 2025: Clare Burns, 51, was found dead with blunt force injuries at her flat in Harpurhey, Manchester. Her partner, Leonard Lee Stewart, 55, has been convicted of her murder and sentenced to a minimum of 16 years and 363 days.
  27. 12 April 2025: Sarah Reynolds, 58, died at an address in Croydon. Earlston Bennet, 57, has been charged with her murder.
  28. 13 April 2025: Hien Thi Vu, 45, died at the home she shared with her husband in Lewisham, South London. Her husband, Hai Van Nguyen, 41, has been charged with her murder.
  29. Between 13 and 19 of April 2025: Paria Veisi, 37, had been missing since 13 April and was found dead at a property in the Penylan area of Cardiff on the 19th. Her husband, Alireza Askari, 41, has been charged with murder.
  30. 15 April 2025: Rebekah Campbell, 32, was stabbed inside a flat at Knowsley Heights, Merseyside, and died later at a hospital. Michael Ormandy, 34, has been charged with murder. Police statements have not confirmed the relationship between the victim and the accused.
  31. 17 April 2025: Frances Obiefuleh, 45, was found dead at a home in Havant, Hampshire. Her identity is yet to be released. Norbert Maiksner, 48, has been charged with her murder.
  32. 18 April 2025: Tracey Davies, formerly Young, 48, was found dead at a property in Cefn Cribwr, Bridgend County. Her husband, Michael Davies, 56, has been charged with murder.
  33. 19 April 2025: Pamela Munro, 45, was stabbed to death at an address in Enfield, London. Abdirazak Omar, 29 has been charged with her murder. It is not yet clear if they were known to each other.
  34. 23 April 2025: Aimee Pike, 23, was killed after being hit by a car down Kingsbridge Road in Devon. Rowan Sutton, 22, has been charged with her murder.
  35. 26 April 2025: Elizabeth Tamilore (Tami) Odunsi, 23, originally from London, was stabbed to death at her apartment in Texas, United States. Her flatmate, Chester Lamar Grant, 40, has been charged with her murder.
  36. 29 April 2025: Nnenna Chima, 28, was found dead in a house in Leeds, W. Yorkshire. Police believe that she was killed by Thomas Oko, 32, before he killed himself.
  37. 7 May 2025: Kathryn Perkins,  67, was found dead in a property in Exmouth, Devon,  along with her husband John Perkins, 69. Both had gunshot wounds. Kathryn’s death is being treated as suspicious and both fatalities are linked. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
  38. 10 May 2025: Margaret McGowan, 71, was found seriously injured at a house in Nitshill, Glasgow. Police pronounced her dead at the property. A 78-year-old man has been charged in connection with her death.
  39. 11 May 2025: Ellen Cook, 72, was stabbed to death by her son, near her home in Littlethorpe, Leicestershire. Daniel Cook, 39, has been charged with her murder.
  40. Between 29 May and 31 May: Yajaira Castro Mendez, 46 was killed in a Central London office block. Her ex-boyfriend Juan Francisco Toledo, 51, has been charged with her murder.
  41. 30 May 2025: Rachael Vaughan, 40, was found dead at a property in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Her ex-boyfriend, Robert Richens, 34, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years. 
  42. 31 May 2025: Marjama Osman, 26 was stabbed to death in Frith Road, Croydon. Simon Hinsta Ghebremedhin, 33, has been charged with her murder.
  43. 1 June 2025: Miriam MacDonald, 52, was repeatedly stabbed by her son, Thomas Fraser, 30 at a home in Inverness, Scotland. She died the following day in hospital. Another man, 55, was injured and remains in hospital. Thomas Fraser has been charged with murder.
  44. 3 June 2025: Mary (Marie) Green, 71, was found dead at her house in Belfast. Her son, Lewis Green, 31, has been charged with her murder.
  45. 5 June 2025: Mandy Riley, 47, was found dead at a property in Normanton, Derbyshire. Thomas Turner, 63, has been charged with her murder.
  46. 5 June 2025: Samantha Murphy, 33, was found dead at a property in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Charlie James Jeans, 30, has been charged with murder.
  47. 13 June 2025: Isobella (Izzy) Knight, 32, was strangled to death by her husband at their home in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire. Her husband Paul Knight, 35, has been convicted of murder.
  48. 16 June 2025: Christina Alexander, 60, died in a house in Dosthill, Warwickshire. Robert Alexander, 65, has been charged with her murder.
  49. 17 June 2025: Annabel Rook, 46, was found fatally injured with stab wounds following a gas explosion at a property in Stoke Newington, London. Clifton George, 44, has been charged with her murder.
  50. 21 May 2025: Reanne Coulson, 34, was strangled to death. Her body was found on 27 of June in Binley Woods, near Coventry. Mohammed Durnion (formerly Alan Durnion), 42, has been convicted of murder.
  51. 20 June 2025: Nilani Nimalarajah, 44, died at a hospital after being stabbed in Bootle, Merseyside. Nimalarajah Mathiyadaranam, 47, pleaded guilty to murder and sentenced to a minimum of 28 years. 
  52. 23 June 2025: Irene Mbugua, 46, was found dead at a property in Birmingham, West Midlands. David Walsh, 34, has been charged with her murder.
  53. 26 June 2025: Nila Patel, 56, was killed from her injuries after 2 days earlier being attacked in public, in Leicester. The stranger, Chukwuemeka Ahanonu, 23, who stamped on her head, pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to a minimum of 21.5 years.
  54. 26 June 2025:  A 47-year-old woman who has not been named, was stabbed to death in a house in Tower Hamlets, East London. Layek Miah, 27 has been charged with her murder.
  55. 27 June 2025: Sarah Montgomery, 27, was killed at her home in County Down, Northern Ireland. She was pregnant at the time. Zak Hughes, 28, has been charged with murder and child destruction.
  56. 29 June 2025: Angela Botham, 93, was found dead at a property in Bude, Cornwall. David Botham, 65, has been charged with her murder.
  57. 5 July 2025: Fortune Gomo, 39, was stabbed on South Road, Dundee. Despite attention from paramedics, she was pronounced dead at the scene. Kyler Rattray, 20, has been charged with her murder.
  58. 5 July 2025: Pamela Wilson, 45, was found dead at a home in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. William Leckie, 37, has been charged with her murder, assault to injury, breaching bail conditions, and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner.
  59. 13 July 2025: Phyllis Daly, 70, was found dead at an address in Maghull, Merseyside. Her son, Graham Daly, 44, was initially detained under the Mental Health Act, has now been charged with murder.
  60. 16 July 2025: Gwyneth Carter, 72, was found dead in her home in Macclesfield, with multiple injuries to her head and neck. Simon Carter, 49, has been charged with her murder and is currently detained under the Mental Health Act.
  61. 20 July 2025: Stephanie Blundell, 41, was killed by her boyfriend at his home in Chester, Cheshire. Tony Devenport, 57, subjected Stephanie to a violent attack where she suffered 102 injuries. He has been convicted of her murder.
  62. 22 July 2025: Brenda Breed, 87, was found dead at a home in Westonzoyland, Somerset. Her son, Richard Breed, 62, has been charged with her murder.
  63. 26 July 2025: Vanessa Whyte, 45, was shot dead at her home, together with her two children in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Her partner, Ian Rutledge, 43, died in hospital after the incident following an attempted suicide.
  64. 26 July 2025: Courtney Angus, 21, was found dead at a property in Batley, West Yorkshire. Michael Doherty, 37, has been charged with her murder.
  65. 27 July 2025: Nkiru Chima, 60, was stabbed to death at a property in Romford, East London. It is believed a 20-year-old man (currently unnamed) stabbed her before killing himself. Police are confident he is connected to Nkiru’s death.
  66. 9 August 2025: Kimberley Thompson, 43, was found dead at a home in Northampton, Northamptonshire. Her former partner, Michael Thompson, 55, has been charged with her rape and murder.
  67. 11 August 2025: Shara Millar, 41, was strangled to death and found off a road in Smethwick, West Midlands. Tanveer Singh, 31, has been convicted for her murder.
  68. 13 August 2025: Paris Kendall, 36, was found unconscious with head injuries in an alleyway in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Lee Taylor, 40, has been charged with her murder.
  69. 14 August 2025: Sufia Khatun, 73, was found dead at her home in Bethnal Green, East London. Her son, Mizanur Rahman, 45, has been charged with her murder.
  70. 16 August 2025: Zahwa Salah Mukhtar, 27, died after being assaulted and thrown from a car in Romford, East London, by Duane Owusu, 36. They had only met a few hours earlier. He has been convicted of her murder.
  71. 21 August 2025: Niwunhellage Dona Nirodha Kalapni Niwunhella (known as Nirodha), 32, was found dead on a street in Cardiff. Thisara Weragalage, 37, has been charged with her murder.
  72. 24 August 2025: Sheryl Wilkins, 39, was found dead on a road in Haringey, North London. Simon Levy, 40, has been charged with her murder.
  73. 27 August 2025: Halyna Hoisan (also known as Lina), 29, was stabbed to death at a residential address in Greenwich, Southeast London. Yurii Muzyka, 33, has been charged with her murder.
  74. 28 August 2025: Tia Langdon, 25, died of injuries after falling from a block of flats in Southampton, Hampshire. Jaiden Hassan-Agard, 18, has been charged with manslaughter as well as making threats to kill, false imprisonment, and threatening with an offensive weapon.
  75. 28 August 2025: Ndata Bobb, 43, was found dead at an address in Edinburgh, Scotland. Momodou Bobb, 55, has been charged with murder.
  76. 7 September 2025: Linner Sang, 39, was stabbed to death at a home in Reading, Berkshire. Her husband, Edwin Kiplangat, 29, has been charged with murder and 2 counts of assault.
  77. 11 September 2025: June Bunyan, 37, a Scottish woman, was found dead in Los Angeles. Her husband, Jonathan Renteria, 25, has been charged with murder.
  78. 23 September 2025: Michelle Thomson, 47, was pronounced dead at a property in Newmilns, East Ayrshire. Samuel Kelly, 26 has been charged with her murder.
  79. 27 September 2025: Shelley Davies, 38, was hit by a car in Cardiff. She died on 18th October due to her injuries. Kian Bateman, 18, had driven into pedestrians after an ‘altercation’ and has now been charged with murder.
  80. 27 September 2025: Ann Green, 61, was found dead at a property in Bromyard, Herefordshire. Julian Thomas, 54, has been charged with her murder.
  81. 29 September 2025: Anjanee Sandhir, 39, was found dead at a property in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Her husband, Shivinder Sandhir, 41, has been charged with her murder.
  82. 2 October 2025: Catalina Birlea, 23 was found dead at a property in Cambridge. Jon Ismaili, 33, has been charged with her murder.
  83. 7 October 2025: Chereiss Bailey, 36, was found dead in a body of water in West Bromwich, W. Midlands.  John Anslow, 64, has been charged with murder, and preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body.
  84. 13–17 October 25: Sonia Exelby, 32, of Portsmouth, was stabbed to death in Florida, United States. Dwain Hall, 53, has been charged with her murder, kidnapping, credit card fraud and unlawful use of a communication device.
  85. 18 October 2025: Agne Druskienea, 40, was stabbed to death at her home in Hornchurch, East London. Her husband, Augustinas Druskis, 43, has been charged with her murder.
  86. 18 October 2025: Michele Kennedy, 55, died from her injuries after been stabbed five days previously in a house in Woolston, Warrington. Gavin Shaw, 61, her husband, has been charged with her murder.
  87. 24 October 2025: Angela Shellis, 45, was found dead with a head injury in Prestatyn, North Wales. Her son, Tristan Roberts, 18, has been charged with her murder.
  88. 21 October 2025: Stephanie Irons, 23, was found dead at a home in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. Adedapo Adegbola, 40, has been charged with her murder.
  89. 27 October 2025: Dickiesa Nurse, 42, was stabbed to death at a flat in Brixton, South London. Robert Sabat, 59, has been charged with her murder.
  90. 31 October 2025: Natalie Egan, 37, was found dead in a flat following reports of a fire at a property in Dundee. Calum Miller, 26, has been charged with her murder.
  91. 6 November 2025: Colleen Westerman, 62, was found dead at an address in Leeds. John Bootland, 56, has been charged with murder.
  92. 7 November 2025: Katie Fox, 34, was stabbed in the neck in Birmingham city centre, she died soon after. Djeison Rafael, 21, has been charged with murder, two counts of ABH, possession of a knife and assaulting an emergency worker.
  93. 13 November 2025: Lainie Williams, 17, was stabbed to death at a property in Went, South Wales. Cameron Cheng, 18, has been charged with her murder, the attempted murder of another woman, and possession of a bladed article.
  94. 6 December 2025: Lili Stojanova, 54, was found unresponsive and pronounced dead in a property in Dundee. Andrew Bajek, 42, has been charged with her murder.
  95. 10 December 2025: Xiaoqing Ke, 39, was stabbed to death at an address in Earl’s Court, London. Deepak Sandhu, 23, has been charged with murder.
  96. 15 December 2025: Julie Wilson, 58 was found dead at an address in South London. James Flanagan, 53, has been charged with her murder. It is currently unknown if they knew each other.
  97. 21 December 2025: An as yet unnamed woman, 24, was found dead at a house in Sandwell, West Midlands. Benjamin Day, 19, has been charged with her murder.
  98. 21 December 2025: Lisa Smith, 33, died two days after being found injured at a property in Huddersfield. Gareth Brook, 34, initially charged with wounding with intent has now been charged with her murder.
  99. 31 December 2025: Janet Bowen, 65, was found dead at a property in Yateley, Hampshire. Michael Bowen, 34, has been charged with her murder.

Last updated 26 May 2026

Please let me know if you have information regarding the deaths of any other women/girls (aged 13 and over) not included in the list above and where a man/men is/are the primary suspects in the UK or UK women killed abroad in 2025.

Unknown's avatar

Open letter to national organisations supporting (women) victim-survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse

by

It had been more than a week since the ruling in For Women Scotland v. Scottish Ministers and despite the widespread celebrations of feminists and amazing widespread front-page news coverage, none of the national charities working to address men’s violence against women and girls had spoken out about what the ruling meant for women survivors of men’s violence against women and girl and those working with them. Meanwhile, some organisations working with victim-survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse had issued statements pledging that the ruling will not change their working practices whilst not making it clear whether women would be able to access women-only support delivered by women, or whether a woman may find a man who claims to be a woman, rape and sexual violence support centre or counselling group.

Shonagh Dillon and I have each worked in the specialist sector supporting women victims of men’s violence for over three decades. We have been speaking up about the importance of women-only spaces for years. Shonagh’s doctoral thesis ‘TERF Bigot Transphobe – We Found the Witch. Burn Her’ researched the clash between transgender ideology and women’s sex-based rights analysing the direct impact on the male violence against women sector. I wrote Defending Women’s Spaces about the importance of women only spaces, in particular why they are essential to meet the needs of women who have been subject to men’s violence and the first policy for a women’s charity using the exceptions permitted in the Equality Act to maintain women-only services. I made a written complaint to Women’s Aid Federation England about the use of ‘trans captured language and concepts’ in a survey to member organisations back in 2018.

The ruling did not change the law, instead it clarified what the law meant. And it confirmed what Shonagh and I – and others – have been saying for over a decade. The Equality Act permits and recognises the need for women-only spaces for women victim-survivors of men’s violence. Frustrated by the lack of response from the national charities, most of which were originally constituted to meet the needs of women, Shonagh and I decided to write an open letter to them jointly about what we see as their failure to put the interests of women who have been subjected to men’s violence first.

In an article by Janet Eastham, ‘Domestic violence shelters ‘defy trans court ruling’’, The Telegraph picked up the issue and spoke to us about the letter. Now, more than ever, we need those in roles and with organisations who were sent up to advocate on behalf of women, girls and children who’ve been subjected to men’s violence to show leadership and put women first. If not before, if not now, when?

The letter follows below.

Dear Women’s Aid Federation England, Scottish Women’s Aid, Welsh Women’s Aid, Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland, Rape Crisis England and Wales, Rape Crisis Scotland, Rape Crisis Northern Ireland, Imkaan, SafeLives, The Survivors Trust, End Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition (EVAW),

We are writing to you following the decision of the UK Supreme Court that “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex and therefore the words ”woman” or “women” in The Act refer to those who are female, moreover that The Act’s protections were always intended to be read as such. The judgment made clear that men who identify as women are men, regardless of their identification and whether they hold a Gender Recognition Certificate, and again, that The Act never intended otherwise.

It is well established that victims of sexual and domestic violence and abuse, including prostitution, are disproportionately women and that perpetrators are overwhelmingly male. It is also well established that women victim-survivors benefit most from women-only independent specialist support and indeed that the overwhelming majority would choose female only support, if given the option. Mixed sex services for victim survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse are less effective at meeting the needs of women.

Those activists and survivors, primarily women, who set up sexual and domestic violence services starting in the 1970s understood the need for single-sex support for victim-survivors of men’s violence, hence most of these services were women-only from the outset.  The single-sex exceptions in The Equality Act reflected this understanding and made clear that males could lawfully be excluded from services for women where it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim meeting at least one of six qualifying criteria, including that the service would not be as effective if it were provided for women and men jointly and that a woman using the service might object to the presence of a man, or vice versa. The claim that exclusions must be made on a case-by-case basis is false and always was.

Every survivor should be able to access independent specialist services. We support the delivery of specialist services for the minority of victim-survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse who are men and/or the provision of mixed sex services for those who identify as transgender. But these services must clearly be identified and advertised as such, and women should always be able to choose and trust that the services you advertise as women-only services are delivered by women. Transwomen are not women and should not be treated as such in single-sex sexual and domestic violence services.

Over the past decade, as membership organisations and/or those responsible for quality audits of services, we believe that you have collectively and individually failed to fully articulate the importance of single-sex spaces for women victim-survivors of men’s violence. You have made space for your members and/or organisations that you audit to deliver mixed-sex services in the name of transgender, inclusivity. You have failed to require such service providers to make clear whether they include men in services that they claim are women only. You have failed to adequately make the case for women-only services to law and policy makers and to commissioners and providers of services. In this, we believe that you have failed to act in the best interests of your and our primary beneficiaries.

We understand since the ruling, some member organisations have reaffirmed their intention to continue to provide mixed sex support presented as women-only in the name of transgender inclusion. This is not lawful. Further, the failure to provide single-sex services for women and girls may rightly be open to sex discrimination claims. In many cases, the failure to provide single-sex services for women and in doing so meet the needs of women, may be at odds with the organisations’ charitable objects which is a legal obligation and would be a failure of governance.

We call on you to make access to women-only provision delivered by women for victim-survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse a priority and a requirement. It should be universally understood that our services are by and for women, and they should be accessible as such to every woman. This reaffirmed declaration of the movement’s core purpose should be openly and proudly stated.

Dr Karen Ingala Smith, author of Defending Women’s Spaces

Dr Shonagh Dillon, author of TERF/Bigot/Transphobe – We found the witch, burn her!

Since being contacted by the Telegraph, two of the national organisations have issued statements. (Rape Crisis England and Wales ; Women’s Aid Federation England.)

Unknown's avatar

Abused women and children cannot be used as pawns in power politics

by

Men’s violence against and abuse of women, girls and children is not a party-political issue but of course responses must be led by whichever party holds power. The issue of so-called ‘rape gangs’ is currently being used by the Right to undermine the government which has been in power for six months. In particular, the rhetoric of Elon Musk towards Jess Phillips is incendiary, dangerous and does nothing to support victims of sexual violence whatsoever.

I understand why some people are angry. I’m angry. Again and again, we see failure to act on the recommendations of national and local inquires and ‘strategic needs analyses’. We see failure to act on the recommendations of reviews into individual deaths, such as Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (previously Domestic Homicide Reviews) and case reviews into the death or serious harm of children. This is unacceptable and both local, regional and national administrations/governments have failed victims in repeated and systemic failures to act on what is known. Equally, victims are failed by what is not known, or more accurately, what is not recorded and evidenced.

The chair of the Jay Review of Criminally Exploited Children published in November 2023, Prof Alexis Jay, told the BBC Radio Four Today Programme that lack of data means it is “impossible to know whether any particular ethnic group is over-represented as perpetrators of child sexual exploitation by networks” and that one of the review’s recommendations was improved data collection. It should be unacceptable that this was ever the case, more so that it remains the case because the review recommendations still have not been implemented.

It is clear that there are patterns in the ethnicities of perpetrators and victims and geographical distribution of child rape gangs and some other forms on men’s violence against women and girls. It is not racist to say this, but it is racist to extrapolate from this to make assumptions and statements about the characteristics of all people who share ethnic and religious characteristics with the perpetrators. It is racist, as Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice did, to forefront some cultures as having ‘medieval attitudes to women’ and overlook the fact that sexism, misogyny and the abuse of women and children crosses all cultures. It is inflammatory and irresponsible and risks re-igniting the rioting of the summer of 2024 where innocent people, including women and children, were afraid to leave their homes and two hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Tamworth were targeted by far-right, racist, and Islamophobic rioters. Jenrick has further claimed that the grooming gangs scandal “started with the onset of mass migration” but he ignores other forms of organised sexual exploitation of children, young people and women, such as under the roofs of Catholic or Christian churches, elite boarding  schools and residential schools for troubled children, children’s homes or family homes, whether organised and used by politicians, the police, celebrities or those we’d call ‘ordinary men’.

I’ve worked in organisations supporting victim-survivors of men’s violence for almost 35 years. From 1995 to 2,000, I worked in a hostel for homeless women in Bradford. We worked with mainly younger women, young women who weren’t usually coming with domestic abuse as a presenting issue and some had problematic substance use. Heroin was starting to become easily available in the city at this time. Some were care leavers. In any case, most weren’t eligible for support from refuges or had been asked to leave refuge accommodation because of their behaviour. But most had long histories of abuse, sometimes life-long. Most agencies deemed such young women as beyond help. They were seen as problems, certainly not young women whose needs should be prioritised. Victim-blaming was rife and institutionalised. You only have too look at how West Yorkshire police and the media viewed the victims of Peter Sutcliffe to find see this. Men like Peter Sutcliffe may be mercifully rare, but the response to those upon whom he preyed was far from usual and remains.

Not all women abused, used and violated through semi-organised child sexual exploitation were from working-class back grounds, but, I am sure that if we had accurate records, we would be able to say that they were disproportionately so. Or worse, young women who had grown up in families who had long since been written off. They were products of multi-generational poverty, joblessness and deprivation. You have to have a sense of the impact on regional collective mood in the North of the end of the coal industry, but also the end of widescale textile production in the mills, the end of mass production of steel, the end of ship building, to have a sense of the pervasive hopelessness for many.

We still don’t know the real extent of sexual and domestic violence abuse. We don’t know the extent of prostitution, we don’t know the extent of child sexual exploitation. It remains the case that most violence against women, girls and children is never formally reported and so never counted. But for decades, we feminists have known that which most of the rest of society refuses to acknowledge, the scale of child sex abuse is far greater than that which is commonly assumed. As Bea Campbell movingly tells in her book Secrets and Silence, the Cleveland scandal of child sex abuse in the 1980S was not a scandal of over-zealous professional inventing evidence of child sex-abuse that did not happen, as many of those who remember misremember, it was a scandal of child-sex abuse denied and covered up because most were not ready to face the truth or finance the implications of that truth. Allegations of sexual abuse were made against Cyril Smith, the Rochdale MP from 1972 to 1992, as early as 1969, but no action was taken. Since his death, it has been found that he was abusing, including raping, boys between 1960 and 1987. Jimmy Savile was never held to account and is known to have abused hundreds. The records of Rape Crisis organisations give an indication of how many women and girls are have been regularly raped and violated at home and also how many believe that justice will never be theirs.

Children of all religious and ethnic backgrounds are victims, people – the vast majority of which are men – of all religious and ethnic backgrounds  are perpetrators. Equally, we know that all forms of sexual and domestic violence and abuse are under-reported; and that support for victims and actions to hold perpetrators to account are under-resourced. No government to date has set out an effective strategy to seriously reduce, let alone end, men’s violence against and abuse of women, girls and children.

Prof Alexis Jay does not support another review or independent inquiry. She said “We’ve had enough of inquiries, consultations and discussions, and especially for those victims and survivors who’ve had the courage to come forward, and they clearly want action. We have set out what action is required and people should just get on with it. Locally and nationally.”

We need to put supporting and responding to the needs of existing victims first. We need to stop the hierarchy of victims where some are more likely to be believed, some are more likely to see justice and some are more likely to be ignored or blamed for the abuse that they were subjected to. The law must apply equally to all perpetrators. We cannot see men’s violence against women, girls and children as a class or race issue but neither can we deny how these issues intersect with perpetration, victimisation, accountability and justice.

Policing, the criminal justice system, state organisations and independent non-state organisations, particularly the specialist women’s sector, must be adequately resourced to support victims and hold perpetrators to account.  We cannot refuse to see uncomfortable truths whether we’re talking about people that we perceive to be similar or different from ourselves. We need to act on what we know and close the evidence gaps around that which we have not yet documented. We need to challenge institutional reluctance to name this as a ‘man’ problem whilst not denying that women can abuse, facilitate and men and boys can be victims. We need to ask why there isn’t wider outrage at our shamefully low conviction rates for rape and ask why this itself is not seen as a cover-up or societal collusion with rapists.

We cannot allow the response to sexual and domestic violence and abuse to be hijacked by those with the deepest pockets, the loudest voices and those with nefarious agendas, however compelling they sometimes are. We cannot refuse to make the links between child sexual exploitation, pornography and prostitution. A society that condones the purchase of ‘consent’ to sexual access is one where men’s entitlement and women’s objectification and where sexual exploitation is normalised.

We need to believe that men’s violence against and abuse of women, girls and children is not inevitable and act accordingly. Whilst our goals and actions must be across party political divides, they must be set without prejudice, be victim-centred and implemented with determination. Abused women and children cannot be used as pawns in power politics.