2025

September 4, 2025 by Karen Ingala Smith

We have recorded at least 85 UK women and girls aged 13 and over who have been killed so far 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:

17 January 2025: Judith Law, 70, suffered catastrophic head injuries when she was hit on the head six times by her brother Richard Law, in their late parent’s home which they shared, in Devon. Richard Law has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility
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.
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.
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.
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.
23 January 2025: Margaret Worby, 84, was found dead at her home in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Her husband Roger Worby, 83, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, this plea was accepted.
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.
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.
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.
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, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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 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.
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.
27 February 2025: Leanne Williams, 47, was killed at her home in Townhill, Swansea. Matthew Battenbough, 33, has been charged with murder.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
31 March 2025: Paramjit Kaur, 46, died at a house in Oldbury, West Midlands. Harminder Mattu, 50, has been charged with murder.
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.
12 April 2025: Sarah Reynolds, 58, died at an address in Croydon. Earlston Bennet, 57, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
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.
17 April 2025: An as yet unnamed woman, believed to be in her 40s, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
30 May 2025: Rachael Vaughan, 40, was found dead at a property in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Robert Richens, 34, has been charged with her murder.
31 May 2025: Marjama Osman, 26 was stabbed to death in Frith Road, Croydon. Simon Hinsta Ghebremedhin, 33, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
5 June 2025: Ma’er Hotya, 47, was found dead at a property in Normanton, Derbyshire. Her son, Thomas Turner, 63, has been charged with her murder.
5 June 2025: Samantha Murphy, 33, was found dead at a property in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Charlie James Jeans, 30, has been charged with murder.
13 June 2025: Isobella (Izzy) Knight, 32, was found dead in the property in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire. Her husband Paul Knight, 35, has been charged with her murder.
16 June 2025: Christina Alexander, 60, died in a house in Dosthill, Warwickshire. Robert Alexander, 65, has been charged with her murder.
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.
Between 21 May and 17 June 2025: Reanne Coulson, 34, was killed. Her body was found in Binley Woods, near Coventry. Mohammed Durnion, 42, has been charged with her murder.
20 June 2025: Nilani Nimalarajah, 44, died at a hospital after being stabbed in Bootle, Merseyside. Nimalarajah Mathiyadaranam, 47, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
29 June 2025: Angela Botham, 93, was found dead at a property in Bude, Cornwall. David Botham, 65, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
20 July 2025: Stephanie Blundell, 41, was found dead at a property in Chester, Cheshire. Tony Devenport, 57, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
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.
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.
11 August 2025: Shara Miller, 41, was strangled to death and found off a road in Smethwick, West Midlands. Tanveer Singh, 31, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
28 August 2025: Ndata Bobb, 43, was found dead at an address in Edinburgh, Scotland. Momodou Bobb, 55, has been charged with murder.
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.
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.
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.
27 September 2025: Shelley Davies, 38, was hit by a car in Cardiff. She died on 18^th October due to her injuries. Kian Bateman, 18, had driven into pedestrians after an ‘altercation’ and has now been charged with murder.
27 September 2025: Ann Green, 61, was found dead at a property in Bromyard, Herefordshire. Julian Thomas, 54, has been charged with her murder.
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.
2 October 2025: Catalina Birlea, 23 was found dead at a property in Cambridge. Jon Ismaili, 33, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
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.
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.
21 October 2025: Stephanie Irons, 23, was found dead at a home in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. Adedapo Adegbola, 40, has been charged with her murder.
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.
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.
6 November 2025: Colleen Westerman, 62, was found dead at an address in Leeds. John Bootland, 56, has been charged with murder.
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.
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.
13–17 November 2025: 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.

Last updated 25 November 2025

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 2024.

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

April 28, 2025 by Karen Ingala Smith

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.)

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

January 8, 2025 by Karen Ingala Smith

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.

Sarah Owen, MP, newly elected chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, on Woman’s Hour

September 12, 2024 by Karen Ingala Smith

Sarah Owen, MP (Labour) for Luton North was elected Chair of the parliamentary Women and Equalities Select Committee (WESC) on 11^th September 2024. The following morning, she was a guest on Woman’s Hour, presented by Anita Rani.

Woman’s Hour was hardly quick to pick up on women’s legitimate concerns regarding the threats posed by the Gender Recognition Act, and transgender identity ideology more generally, to women’s sex based rights and protections. In fact, the BBC issued Woman’s Hours’s longest serving presenter, Jenni Murray, with an impartiality warning after a piece she had written for The Sunday Times Magazine (in March 2017) addressed whether men who had undergone ‘ a sex change operation ‘ (more accurately described as gender affirmation surgery, because, quite simply, people cannot change sex) were different from ‘real women’. As Murray later wrote, ‘ I was roundly ticked off publicly and informed that I would not be allowed to chair any discussions on the trans question or proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act.’ Refusing to be silenced, Murray left the BBC just over three years later. Woman’s Hour’s refusal to tackle the issue increasingly undermined the programme’s claim to address ‘topical issues’ and slowly the embarrassing lacuna was filled. When Woman’s Hour presenter Anita Rani interviewed Owen, whilst some of us might have liked a more robust challenge to Owen’s responses, at least relevant questions were asked about the some of the issues in the clash between women’s and transgender rights.

Owen expressed sadness that people’s fears and concerns had been boiled down to body parts. This interpretation is her own and way behind the current state of debate. It is a central feminist position that women are more than our body parts. Of course, we are. The feminist position is that women’s bodies should not and need not define the entirety or scope of our lives, that our sex and socially prescribed sex roles are not the same. This is far from saying that we do not share the material reality of a sexed body.

Owen was one of 452 MPs and 129 MSPs who were sent a complimentary copy of my book, Defending Women’s Spaces in a campaign by Woman’s Place UK and nia. The book makes clear that the needs of women in relation to single-sex spaces go way beyond matters of body parts. Of course, being sent a book is not the same as reading it, and if she hasn’t done so already, I’d suggest that Sarah spends some time with the book and considers some of the issues I raise from the perspective of someone who, for 34 years, has been involved in the provision of specialist services for women who have been subjected to men’s violence. Sarah, if you’ve misplaced your copy, could I further suggest that you buy one or even borrow someone else’s? Even if I say it myself, the book has important things to say about the importance of single sex services in particular for women victim-survivors of men’s violence.

When asked what a woman is, Owen for some reason found herself unable to answer the question. Instead, she said ‘somebody that is going to be paid less than their male counterparts, somebody that is going to be less safe walking down the streets and somebody that faces more barriers in the workplace, education and health sector. These are not examples of what a woman is, they are examples of sex-inequality. They are examples of how the sex-hierarchy operates in patriarchal societies. Indeed, they are issues that we might suppose fall within the remit of the WESC. If we managed to eradicate all these examples of sex inequality, the biological category of women would still exist. But we need to be able to identify women if we are to show how we are discriminated against.

I was surprised to hear Owen say that most of the debate around the clash between women’s sex-based rights and protections had happened without ‘transwomen’s’ voices. Perhaps she hasn’t read the 2016 WESC Transgender Equality Report. I opened my book with a reference to this report. It included the nonsense claim that each of us is assigned sex at birth and quoted a newspaper article citing the disputed ‘sobering and distressing fact that in UK surveys of trans people about half of young people and a third of adults report that they have attempted suicide’. The report included quotes from the Scottish Transgender Alliance recommending the removal of the single-sex exceptions, from Galop, an LGBT anti-abuse charity, which claimed that transgender people are currently at serious risk of harm by being excluded from sexual and domestic violence and abuse services and one Mridul Wadhwa, who is quoted saying: ‘I am disappointed to think that someone has the right to refuse work to me and others like me in my sector [the sexual and domestic violence and abuse sector] just because they think that I might not be a woman.’ And we all know how his appointment turned out, don’t we?

Far from the voices of trans identified males not having been heard, the government announced that the Gender Recognition Act was to be reviewed following recommendations of the WESC report. The committee, then chaired by Maria Miller MP, had called 20 people (outside of MPs) as witnesses to the inquiry which preceded the report. Kathleen Stock summarised those who were called as witnesses thus: eleven of the twenty represented trans activist organisations, while the remaining nine were relatively neutral experts, though some of these were also trans themselves. No women’s groups were called to give evidence, though some had made written submissions, and neither was anyone who had voiced concerns about transitioning. In fact, one of the reasons that Woman’s Place UK was founded in 2017 was to help ensure that women’s voices were heard – as it was ours, not those of males who identified as transgender or organisations servicing their interests, which had been excluded. In addition, when I gave evidence to the WESC about whether specialist providers of services for women who had been subjected to men’s violence understood the provisions of the Equality Act regarding single-sex spaces, one of the other two people interviewed was a trans identified man called Diana James. Perhaps it is understandable that the day after her appointment as Chair was announced, Owen was not familiar with the history of the committee, including the highly significant report that it had published eight years earlier. But this gap in her knowledge should not have resulted in her making a claim whichwas quite the opposite of the history of the committee that she now chairs. It hardly suggests that she is capable of hearing women’s concerns or recognising when we are not heard by others. And, I’d add, the ‘say what you want to think is true because it suits your narrative regardless of its basis in fact’ is entirely consistent with the input of transgender identity ideology advocates: their false claims about suicide, denial of the harms of puberty blockers, denial of the extent of the medicalisation and sterilisation of minors, exaggeration of the levels of serious harm and violence to persons with transgender identities in the UK and so on.

Owen also claims that polarised views mean that we haven’t seen any progress in addressing the conflict between women’s sex-based rights and protections and transgender identify ideology and she bemoaned the lack of respectful debate. Again, she is quite wrong. Feminist interventions have been largely respectful but most of all she is wrong to deny women’s gains. As Professor Jo Phoenix summarised ‘the count so far (of employment tribunals involving secular gender critical claimants and including full admissions of liability as wins’) is: ‘12 wins (admission of liability + claims upheld @ ET/EAT), two settled by agreement, two ongoing appeals, two unsuccessful and one dismissed at preliminary hearing stage (ruled out of time and/or claimant did not have employment status)’. This, Phoenix explains is in the context of less than five percent of belief discrimination claims winning at hearing & around 15-20% being unsuccessful at hearing in the last fifteen years while we (those of us who understand that sex is a material fact and refuse to pretend otherwise) are winning at a rate of 78 percent with three percent being unsuccessful. There are many progressions outside courtrooms too and of course the battles fought inside the courtroom themselves have implications outside it.

Quite simply, women have refused to be silenced and we continue to make gains. We will not let our rights be given away. We will not let demands that we ‘be kind’ prevent us from fighting to protect our interests. The chair of the Women and Equalities Committee is only one member of the committee and I hope others on the committee will ensure that issues are examined and robust challenges are made. I recognise that the remit of the committee is women and (other) equality and inequality issues. But surely there’s an indication in the name of the committee that women’s interests should not be ignored or diminished. And sadly, it doesn’t fill me with confidence that the new chair can’t even define what a woman is.

2024

August 14, 2024 by Karen Ingala Smith

We have recorded at least 106 UK women and girls aged 13 and over who have been killed in circumstances in which a man or men are primary suspect in 2024:

1 January 2024: Keotshepile ‘Naso’ Isaacs, 33, was found dead at her home in North Berwick, East Lothian. Her husband Mompati Dodo Isaacs, 37, is charged with her murder.
3 January 2024: Tia Simmonds, 32, was drugged and stabbed to death by her husband at their home in Lewisham. Her husband, Shane Simmonds, 38, was convicted of her murder. He was also convicted of two counts of rape in relation to a separate woman. He received a life sentence with a minimum of 32 years.
4 January 2024: Mayawati Bracken, 56, was stabbed to death in her car near her home in Berkshire. Her 18-year-old son, Julian Bracken, was hit by a train nearby and died at the scene. Police have linked the incidents and are not looking for anyone else in connection with either death.
5 January 2024: Alison McLaughlin, 53, and her husband Neil McLaughlin, 57, were found dead at a property in Greenock, Inverclyde. Police are treating Alison’s death as murder and her husband’s as non-suspicious. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with their deaths.
16 January 2024: Leila Young, 33, was stabbed to death when taking steps to leave her abusive boyfriend, Tony Currant, 33, at their home in Bexley. Their children were in the next room. Tony Currant has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to 21 years minimum.
19 January 2024: Kanticha Sukpengpanao, 36, was visiting her nieces Jasmin Kuczynska, 12 and Natasha Kuczynska, 8, when they were stabbed to death at a property in Norwich. The girl’s father Bartlomiej Kuczynski, 45, was also found dead. Police are treating the deaths of Kanticha, Jasmin and Natasha as murder and Bartlomiej as non-suspicious. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection.
19 January 2024: Tara Kersaw, 33, was strangled to death at her home in Great Yarmouth by her partner, Adam Bernard. He had arrested on suspicion of assaulting Tara the day before, with no further action taken. Adam Bernard, 41, was convicted of her murder.
26 January 2024: Claudia Kambanza, 22, was stabbed on a street in Hull. She died a short time later. Her partner, Mateus Johannes, 28, has been charged with murder and possession of a bladed article.
9 February 2024: Michele Romano, 68, was found with serious injuries at her son’s home in Chelmsford. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her son, Sebastian Compton, 47, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
11 February 2024: Claire Leveque, 24, Was found dead at a property in Shetland. Aren Pearson, 39, has been charged with murder.
12 February 2024: Samantha (Sam) Varley, 44, was found dead at her home in Leeds from multiple injuries caused by a sustained attack. Her partner, Warren Spence, 54, has been convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in prison.
18 February 2024: Christine (Chrissie) Everett-Hickson, 21, was beaten to death at her flat in Derbyshire. Her boyfriend, Kain Tailby, 30, has been convicted of murder. He was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years and 10 months.
23 February 2024: Paramjit Gosal-Gill, 40, suffered serious injuries at a property in Beaconsfield. Paul Gill, 39, has been charged with murder.
23 February 2024: Suratchanee ‘Lat’ Parks, 53, was killed with the use of a hammer by her husband, Richard Parks, 53. The inquest concluded that he then killed himself. Their bodies were found in their home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
2 March 2024: Wendy Frances, 61, was beaten and stabbed to death at her home in Worcester. Her adult daughter was also beaten and survived. Damien Homer, 50, who was Wendy’s adult daughter’s partner, has been convicted of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years.
3 March 2024: Christine Bauld, 55, was stabbed to death outside her home by her son. Gregor Bauld, 23, pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility. He was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 13 years and eight months. He is detained in a secure hospital and moved to prison when he no longer needs treatment.
18 March 2024: Lisa Paris, 54, was found dead in a property in Rendle Street, Plymouth. Mark Anthony Fitzgerald, 61, has been charged with murder.
20 March 2024: Zhe Wang, 31, was stabbed to death in a house in Deptford, south-east London. Joshua Michals, 24, has been charged with murder.
20 March 2024: Pauline Sweeney, 50, was stabbed to death in her home in Coventry by her ex-partner, William Brady, 57. He was sentenced to minimum of 19 years for her murder.
20 March 2024: Ursula Uhlemann, 80, was found dead at a property in Queenspark, London. A provisional cause of death is given as compression to the neck. Her partner, Steven Clark, 50, is charged with her murder.
22 March 2024: Carol Matthews, 73, was smothered to death by her husband, Peter Matthews, 79, at their home in Stoke-on-Trent. Peter Matthews was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years for her murder.
22 March 2024: Tiffany Render, 34, was killed by her boyfriend at his property in Whitehaven, Cumbria. She was subjected to repeated blunt-force trauma and rapid blood loss during the attack. Paul Irwin, 50, has been convicted of murder and sexual assault. He has been sentenced to a minimum of 32 years.
29 March 2024: Jillian Hughes, 57, from Merseyside, was punched in the neck by her partner during a holiday on the Isle of Man. John Meadows, 53, was convicted of manslaughter.
30 March 2024: Francis Dwyer, 48, was found at a property in Tile Cross, West Midlands. Anthony Hoey, 49, has been charged with murder. He is further charged with theft, aggravated vehicle taking and driving a motor vehicle taken without the owner’s consent.
30 March 2024: Ruth Baker, 48, was strangled to death by her partner, at his home, Tempest Road, in Leeds. George Chalmers, 53, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years and six months. He was also convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH) from a previous attack on Ms. Baker in November 2023.
2 April 2024: Sarah Mayhew, 38, was killed and her body dismembered in a residential address in south-west London. Steve Samson, 44, pleaded guilty to murdering and perverting the course of justice. Three charges of making indecent images of children were left on [KE1] file. Samson was released from a life sentence in 2019 for the murder of a taxi driver in 1998. Gemma Saundercock/Watts, 48, is also charged with murder and perverting the course of justice.
6 April 2024: Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, 25, was found dead inside a car in Hackney. Gogoa Tope, 27, has been charged with her murder.
6 April 2024: Kulsuma Akter, 27, was stabbed in a street in Bradford city centre as she was shopping with her baby and her friend. Her husband, Habibur Masum, 25, is charged with her murder and possession of a bladed article.
14 April 2024: Samantha Mickleburgh, 54, was found dead at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey. Her partner, James Cartright, 60, has been charged with murder and controlling and coercive behaviour.
19 April 2024: Rachel McDaid, 53, was strangled with a boot lace at her home in Nottingham by her estranged husband. Michael McDaid, 60, was convicted of her murder.
20 April 2024: Dora Leese, 77, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds at her home in Meir Park, Staffordshire. Her husband Peter Leese, 78, was found dead beside her. The police are not looking for anyone else in connection.
24 April 2024: Lisa Welford, 49, was pulled out of the River Derwent. She was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead. Her partner, Vincent Morgan, 47, had a history of domestic abuse towards Lisa. He was convicted of her murder and sentenced to a minimum of 21 years.
25 April 2024: Karen O’Leary, 63, suffered multiple stab wounds at her home in Leeds. Her husband, Dennis O’Leary, 61, was also found dead. Police believe Karen was the victim of a ‘domestic-related murder’. They are not looking for anyone else in connection with either death.
5 May 2024: Sonia Parker, 51, was beaten to death by her partner at their home in Edenbridge, Kent. Huseyin Kalyoncu, 33, has been convicted of murder. She had suffered at least 69 marks and 19 fractures to her body. He has been sentenced to 19 years minimum.
6 May 2024: Tarnjeet Riaz, 44, was found dead at an address in Leicester. Raj Sidpara, 50, is charged with murder.
8 May 2024: Karen Youdell, 50, died from the injuries from 23 July 2023. She was repeatedly jumped on and beaten, including with a blunt instrument by her ex-partner, in his garden in Newton Heath, Manchester. Dean Johnstone, 43 has been convicted of Karen’s murder and non-fatal strangulation of his current partner. He was sentenced to a minimum of 17.5 yrs.
9 May 2024: Anita Mukhey, 66, was stabbed at a bus stop in Edgeware. Jalal Debella, 22, is charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
13 May 2024: Bhajan Kaur, 76, was killed at her home, by her son, in Leicester. Sindeep Singh, 47, has been convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 31 years.
15 May 2024: Kat Parton, 34, was found with serious head injuries at in address in Belfast. Jamie Love, 23, is charged with murder, aggravated by reason of domestic abuse.
17 May 2024: Emma Finch, 96, was found dead after a house fire in Liss, Hampshire. Joshua Powell, 26, is charged with murder.
21 May 2024: Margaret Parker, 78, was pronounced dead following a disturbance at a property in Edinburgh. Her son, Daniel Parker, 36, has been charged with her murder and the attempted murder of two other women, aged 55 and 42.
24 May 2024: Amie* Gray, 34, was stabbed to death on a beach in Bournemouth by a stranger. Her friend, Leanne Miles, 38, was taken to hospital with serious stab wounds and survived. Nasen Saadi, 20, was convicted of murder and attempted murder, sentenced to a minimum of 39 years. *Amiee on sentencing remarks
28 May 2024: Maria Nugara, 54, was killed at her home in Essex by her husband. Her son, (his stepson) Giuseppe Morreale, 29, was also killed. She had taken steps to divorce her husband. Maria’s husband, Calogero Ricotta, 63, has been convicted of the murders and sentenced to a minimum of 34 years.
In June 2024: June Henty, 77, died from her injuries sustained on December 23 2023 at Dickson Park, Wickham. Adam Wright, 38 has been charged with her murder.
2 June 2024: Patsy Aust, 81, was found dead at a house in Bangor, County Down. Her brother, Jim Moore, 85, is charged with her murder.
9 June 2024: Chitsidzo Chinyanga, known as Veronica, 42, was taken to hospital following a disturbance at a house in West Lothian. She later died. Kasikai Chinyanga, 46, has been charged with murder.
18 June 2024: Delia Haxworth, 85 was suffocated to death at the home she shared with her husband, in Bath. Her husband, William Haxworth, 87 was found unfit to stand trial. The trial of facts found he killed Delia, unlawfully.
21 June 2024: Joanne Ward, 53 was stabbed to death by her husband, at their home in Rotherham. Laurence Ward, 57, has been convicted of manslaughter by way of loss of control. He has been sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison.
23 June 2024: Rita Fleming, 70, was found dead in an overflowing bath at her home in Kensington. Her partner, Clifford Cowen, 57, is charged with her murder.
25 June 2024: Lauren Evans, 22, was found dead at a property in Hednesford, Staffordshire. A man was dead beside her, Daniel Duffield, 24. Police are treating her death as murder and are not looking for anyone else in connection.
27 June 2024: Maxine Clark, 36, was found beaten to death at a property in Glasgow. Mark Keel, 32, is charged with murder.
1 July 2024: Joanne Samak, 49, died of serious injuries at her home in Droitwich. Her husband, Mohammed Samak, 42, is charged with her murder.
5 July 2024: Sophie Evans, 30, was strangled to death at her home in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire. Richard Jones, 49, who was the father of Sophie’s boyfriend, has been convicted of murder and given a minimum of 20 years.
5 July 2024: Scarlett Vickers, 14, was pronounced dead at a property in Darlington. She died of a stab wound. Her father, Simon Vickers, 49, has been convicted for her murder and sentenced to a minimum of 16 years.
10 July 2024: Carol Hunt, 61, and her two daughters Louise Hunt, 25, and Hannah Hunt, 28, were killed at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire. She had been stabbed to death. Kyle Clifford, 26, Louise’s ex-partner, has been convicted of 3 counts of murder, rape, false imprisonment, possession of offensive weapons. He has been given a whole life term in prison.
10 July 2024: Louise Hunt, 25, and her sister Hannah Hunt, 28, were killed via crossbow and mother Carol Hunt, 61, was stabbed to death at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Kyle Clifford, 26, Louise’s ex-partner, has been convicted of 3 counts of murder, the rape of louise, false imprisonment, possession of offensive weapons. He has been given a whole life term in prison.
10 July 2024: Hannah Hunt, 28, and her sister Louise Hunt, 25, were killed via crossbow and mother, Carol Hunt, 61, was stabbed to death at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Kyle Clifford, 26, Louise’s ex-partner, has been convicted of 3 counts of murder, rape, false imprisonment, possession of offensive weapons. He has been given a whole life term in prison.
19 July 2024: Jenny Sharp, 80, was found dead at the home she shared with her husband in Tolworth. Her husband, Alan Sharp, 80, has been charged with her murder.
22 July 2024: Alana Odysseos, 32, was found with stab injuries at a property in Deptford. She died at the scene. Her ex-partner, Shaine March, 44, is charged with her murder.
22 July 2024: Laura Robson, 37, was found with serious injuries at a house in Gateshead. Ben Hughes, 38, has been charged with her murder.
24 July 2024: Anita Rose, 57, was found unconscious on a path in Brantham, Suffolk. She had been badly beaten and died in hospital four days later. A stranger, Roy Barclay, 55, has been convicted of murder.
29 July 2024: Rebecca (Beckii) Simkin, 31, was killed in a violent assault by Wayne Bond, 44, at his flat in Stafford, Staffordshire. Wayne Bond, 44, has been convicted of her murder.
30 July 2024: Olivia Wood, 29 was found dead at a property in Frome, Somerset. Keiron Goodwin, 32, has been convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 35 years for her murder and 15 other offences against her and three other women.
6 August, 2024: Courtney Mitchell, 26, has been stabbed to death in a busy Ipswich street. Her ex-boyfriend, Logan Burnett, 27, has been convicted of murder. He was sentenced to minimum of 24 years.
17 August 2024: Nina Denisova, 39, was stabbed to death at a property in Kent. Ernesto Juska, 20, is charged with murder and a sexual offence on a deceased woman’s body.
18 August 2024: Alberta Obinim,43, has been stabbed to death at an address in Gorton, Manchester. Alberta’s daughter, 17, and man, 64 also suffered serious injuries during the attack. A man of 22-years was detained under the Mental Health Act.
18 August 2024: Sophie Watson, 57, was found stabbed to death at a property in Magherafelt, Londonderry. Andrzej Pajaczkowski, 43, is charged with her murder.
18 August 2024: Stephanie Marie, 19, was found with stab wounds in a car park at Crawley train station. Her partner Jason Pascal Flore, 26, has been convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 21 years.
20 August 2024: Vicki Thomas, 45, was strangled by her partner, at their home in Cardiff. Alcwyn Thomas, 44, has been convicted of her murder.
21 August 2024: Bryonie Gawith, 29, 21 August 2024: Bryonie Gawith, 29, and her children, Denisty Birtle, 9, Oscar Birtle, 5, and Aubree Birtle, 22 months, were killed in a house fire in Bradford Mohammed Shabir, 44, & Calum Sunderland, 25, have been charged with their murders and attempted murder of Antonia Gawith.
21 August 2024: Eve McIntyre, 57, was stabbed and beaten to death by her partner at their home in Gateshead, Northumbria. John Baldwin, 42, has been convicted of murder, and given a minimum of 18yrs and 162 days sentence.
24 August 2024: Montserrat Martorell, 65, suffered multiple injuries in what police describe as a ‘horrific and sustained attack’. Her body was found in a burning flat in Derry. Ciaran Murray, 28. Has been charged with murder, rape and arson.
25 August 2024: Cher Maximen, 32, was stabbed with a machete at Notting Hill Carnival in the middle of an altercation between two groups of men. Shakiel Thibou, 20, is charged with her murder.
26 August 2024: Brodie MacGregor, 23, was stabbed in the face, head and body with broken bottles at a property in Springburn. Alexander Brennan, 52, is charged with her murder.
28 August 2024: Zanele Sibanda, 28, was stabbed to death in Tredworth, Gloucester. Tanaka Zivania, 32 has been charged with murder.
31 August 2024: Davinia Graham, 67, was found fatally injured at an address in Cheltenham. Charles Graham, 77, is charged with her murder.
31 August 2024: Sandra Squires, 82, was stabbed to death in her home in Southborough, Kent. Her grandson, unnamed, 24, died days later, after being arrested on suspicion of murder and the police are not looking for anyone else in connection to her death.
6 September 2024: Barbara Nomakhosi, 35, was found dead with multiple injuries at a property in Bury. A man in his 40s, the only suspect in her death, died in a Collison with a lorry and a pedestrian in the M65. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with her death.
13 September 2024: Juliana Prosper, 48, her two children, Kyle Prosper, 16, and Giselle Prosper, 13, were killed at a flat in Luton, Bedfordshire. Nicholas Prosper, 18, her other son, has been charged with the murders.
16 September 2024: Rachel Simpson, 43, was found dead inside a garage beside a property in Belfast. Her son, Nathan Simpson, 21, has been charged with murder.
29 September 2024: An unnamed woman in her 70s was found with injuries an address in Birmingham. She was taken to hospital but died of her injuries. Her son, Surjit Kaulam, 38, is charged with murder.
1 October 2024: Mary Ward, 22, was found dead at her home in Melrose Street, South Belfast. Ahmed Abdirahman, 31, has been charged with her murder.
5 October 2024: Christine Jefferies, 72 was found dead by gunshot wounds at her home in Trowbridge, Cardiff. Her husband, Stephen Jefferies, 74 was also found dead. Police are treating her death as murder, as his death as self-inflicted.
8 October 2024: An unnamed woman in her 70s was found dead at a property in Rugby. Surendra Patel, 78, is charged with her murder.
9 October 2024: Mashal Ilyas, 24, was killed via asphyxiation, by her father-in-law, at their home in Wigan, Greater Manchester. Nadeem Muhammed Begum, 52, has been convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years minimum.
20 October 2024: Luka Bennett-Smith, 19, died of multiple stab wounds at a property in Bristol. A boy of 16-years has been charged with her murder.
23 October 2024: Rhiannon Skye Whyte, 27, died in hospital after being stabbed at a train station in Walsall on 20 October 24. Deng Chol Majek, 18, is charged with her murder.
24 October 2024: Catherine Flynn, 69, also known as Cathy, was attacked at her home in Rhyl, Wales and died shortly after in hospital. She was stamped on at least 15 times. Dean Mark Albert Mears, 33, has been convicted of her murder, and sentenced to 28 yrs minimum.
29 October 2024: Sandie Butler, 40, was assaulted and killed in Glasgow city centre. James McCrindle, 53, is charged with murder.
10 November 2024: Harshita Brella, 24 and living in Corby, was strangled to death and found inside a car boot in Ilford. Her husband, Pankaj Lamba, 23, fled the country and has been charged with murder, rape, sexual assault and controlling or coercive behaviour.
11 November 2024: Cheryl McKenna, 44, was found with fatal stab wounds at a home in Redditch. Chris Hemming, 46, is charged with murder.
14 November 2024: Harshita Brella, 24, was found dead in the boot of a car in Ilford, East London. Police believe that she was killed by her husband Pankaj Lamba, who fled to India and is still on the run. (November 2025).
15 November 2024: Carol James, 81, was found with serious injuries at a property in Bexleyheath. She died at the scene. Brian James, 81, has been charged with murder.
18 November 2024: Phoenix Spencer-Horn, 21, was found dead in a flat in Lanarkshire. A 26-year-old man has been charged over her death.
26 November 2024: Kristine Sparane, 37, was found dead at her home in Spalding, Lincolnshire. Brian Simpson, 64, has been charged with her murder.
26 November 2024: Alana Armstrong, 25, was killed in a crash whilst on an e-bike. Another man on the e-bike was injured also. Keaton Muldoon, 23, was charged with murder and attempted murder.
29 November 2024: Margaret Cunningham, 57, was found with stab wounds at a property in Rotherhithe, London. She died in hospital. Her brother, Andrew Cunningham, 61, is charged with her murder.
10 December 2024: Margaret Hanson, 84, was found dead at her home in Galashiels, Scotland. Her Husband, John Hanson, also 84, has been charged with her murder.
10 December 2024, Astra Sirapina, 62 was killed at a house in Coventry. Arturs Putrasevics, 39, has been charged with her murder.
14 December 2024: Karen Cummings, 40, was found dead with serious injuries in a house in Banbridge, Northern Ireland. Glenn King, 32 and Kevin McGuigan Jr, 42, have been charged with murder.
14 December 2024: Mariann Borocz, 55, was last seen alive. A stranger, Christopher Barlow, 61, killed Mariann at his home, and hid her body in his shed, in Bolton, Greater Manchester. He has been convicted of her murder and awaiting his sentence.
14 December 2024: Michelle Sadio, 44, was killed in a drive-by shooting outside a church in Harlesden, NW London. Three men, Tahjin Sommersall, 18, Shaquille Sutherland, 25, and Perry Allen-Thomas, 26, have all been charged with murder.
19 December 2024: Gemma Devonish, 42, was found dead and with stab wounds at an address in Carshalton, South London. Her boyfriend, James Madden, 38, has been charged with her murder.
25 December 2024: Joanne Pearson, 38 was stabbed to death at home in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. Teohna Grant, 24 was also killed. A man and teenaged boy were also seriously injured and a dog was killed. Her partner, Jazwell Brown, 49 has been convicted of double murder, double attempted murder and received a minimum of 39 years.
25 December 2024: Teohna Grant, 24 was stabbed to death at her home in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. Joanne Pearson, 38, was also killed. A man and teenaged boy were also seriously injured and a dog was killed. Her neighbour, Jazwell Brown, 49 has been convicted of double murder, double attempted murder and received a minimum of 39 years.
31 December 2024: Heather Newton, 70, was found dead alongside her husband, Michael Newton, 76, who had hanged himself. They were discovered at their home in Poole, Dorset. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection to Heather’s death.

Post updated 4 September 2025.

As Chief Executive of a charity, part of your job is to set the tone

May 20, 2024 by Karen Ingala Smith

Me on Mridul Wadhwa and Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre

I am so pleased to hear that the Employment Tribunal for Roz Adams against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) has agreed that Roz Adams was subjected to discriminatory treatment and that she was unfairly constructively dismissed.

This is undoubtedly a personal victory for Adams. To be told that you are under investigation for gross misconduct and facing immediate dismissal with no pay is intensely stressful and upsetting. For this to be followed by a nine-month procedure that results in ‘only’ a formal warning, is no exoneration. Even the escape route – resignation – is itself a punishment, the loss of job and income compounding the knock to your self-worth. I’m glad that after being discriminated against and unfairly constructively dismissed for believing that women who had been raped had the right to be supported by a female counsellor and to know the sex of their counsellor, not only did Adams find a new job with Beira’s place, she also found within herself the strength to take ERCC to employment tribunal. I’m delighted for her that she won.

Important though Adams’ victory is for her personally, and by extension, for those of us who understand that the support needs of women who have been subjected to men’s violence are best met by women and in women-only environments; Adams’ tribunal success is most important for women victim-survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse.

In May 2021, ERCC announced the appointment of Mridul Wadhwa as its new CEO. The post had been advertised as restricted to women applicants. Kathryn Dawson, Chair of ERCC’s Board of Directors, exclaimed: ‘We are delighted that a woman with such a strong track record in improving the lives of women and campaigning against all forms of inequality will be leading our organisation into the future.’ This is gaslighting. Wadhwa was well known in Edinburgh and Scotland and it was widely known that he was, indeed is, male. For a chair of a Rape Crisis charity to claim otherwise is a gross dereliction of duty and a failure of what should be a key aim of such an organisation to put their beneficiaries first.

In the opening paragraph of my book, Defending Women’s Spaces, published in November 2022, I quoted Wadhwa’s submission to the 2016 Transgender Equality Report published by the government’s Women and Equalities Committee where he bemoaned ‘I am disappointed to think that someone has the right to refuse work to me and others like me in my sector just because they think that I might not be a woman.’ But Wadhwa is not a woman. And he should not be in the sector because he has prioritised his need for validation above the needs of women who have been subjected to men’s violence. Needs which include a trauma-informed single sex space. Needs which include being heard and believed. Needs which include being able to trust what you can see with your own eyes. The heart of Defending Women’s Spaces sets out why single sex spaces are so important for women’s recovery after men’s violence.

The grip of transgender identity ideology on the nation’s psyche has been loosened by concerted feminist and lesbian and gay rights activism since then. Legal cases taken by Allison Baily, Maya Forstater, Jo Phoenix, Rachel Meade and Denise Fahmy have demonstrated how women who dare speak up for other women have been treated but the law has repeatedly found that we have been unfairly treated. The mantra ‘transwomen are women’ is no longer so frequently end vehemently regurgitated by its apostles and disciples.

Within months of appointment, Wadhwa said ‘sexual violence happens to bigoted people as well’ and that ERCC service users would have to rethink their relationship with prejudice if they brought views that the charity believed to be discriminatory. This, as the tribunal showed, became a condition of accessing support. In a later interview, Wadhwa revealed that ‘large groups of survivors’, who did not want to be exposed to men with transgender identities, were not using ERCC services. He did not appear to see this as a problem.

It is to the detriment of the specialist sector supporting women victims of sexual and domestic violence and abuse, and sexual exploitation, that the feminist activist roots and the political nature of the work is being detangled in too many cases from service provision. For me the sector has to frame our work within efforts to end men’s violence against women as a cause and consequence of sex inequality. If we can’t say what a woman is, we can’t end sex inequality.

The employment tribunal found Mridul Wadhwa, ERCC’s Chief Executive, ‘was the invisible hand behind everything that had taken place.’ Not only did Wadhwa lead an organisation to a place where enforcing transgender identity ideology was prioritised over supporting women victim-survivors of men’s violence, he refused to take responsibility in the employment tribunal, he did not appear. The tribunal judgment said ‘absolutely no explanation was provided as to why she (sic) refused to give evidence in the case’ and concluded that they were therefore ‘entitled to draw an adverse inference as to what their evidence would have been in relation to those matters where the respondent’s position conflicted with the claimant’s evidence.’

As a CEO of a charity your role often goes beyond your job description in ways that can be hard to define. In short, you set the tone. It appears that Wadhwa has indeed successfully set the tone at ERCC. But that tone does not prioritise victim-survivors of rape and sexual assault. It is now the responsibility of the board of trustees of ERCC to address this critical failure of mission.

At least 100 UK women are suspected to have been killed by men in 2023

January 3, 2024 by Karen Ingala Smith

Counting Dead Women, has recorded at least 100 UK women who were killed by men, or where the primary suspect for an alleged homicide, is a man, in 2023.

Counting Dead Women monitors the media and collates reports of women suspected to have been killed by men. The project was developed by Karen Ingala Smith, following the murder of Kirsty Treloar in Hackney on 2^nd January 2012. The project is now run with the support of the Femicide Census which Ingala Smith and Clarrie O’Callaghan launched in 2015.

The number of women known or suspected to have been by men in 2023 will inevitably increase beyond 100, sadly even in the next few days. On average since the end of 2009, 140 women have been killed by men every year. That’s an average of two women dead at the hands of a man, every 5 days.

We only count women where men have been charged, or deemed responsible for the death of a woman by a statutory agency, for example in cases such as those where men have killed themselves after killing a woman or have been held under the Mental Health Act in relation to a killing. The Femicide Census has found that on average in just under 12% of cases men who kill women also kill themselves. We always have a number of cases each year where the media have reported the death of a woman but the circumstances are not yet clear. There are regular reports of women being found dead that end up disappearing from the news, they might end up being non-suspicious deaths, overdoses, suicides (often following abuse), men may have been bailed pending investigation and so on. Usually more details become apparent in the course of the year, when criminal charges can be made and as cases proceed through the criminal justice system.

In addition, the Femicide Census sends Freedom of Information requests to the 42 UK police forces asking for information on women suspected to have been killed by men in the preceding year. This also reveals cases that have not featured in the media or which we might not have seen.

Each woman killed is a loss in and of itself in relation to the woman whose life has been taken. On average, in the UK 58 percent of women killed by men are killed by a current or former partner. Often in these cases, the killing of a woman follows months, years or even decades of violence, abuse and coercive control. In addition, analysis by the Femicide Census finds that around 8 percent of women killed by men, are women who were killed by their own son. Around 10 per cent are women who were killed by a stranger.

The killing of women, because they are women and reflecting unequal relationships between women and men as individuals but also collectively, is known as femicide. Femicide is a systemic issue. Whilst individual men must always be held responsible for the actions that they take, femicide is also a product of sex inequality and widely held cultural values. Regardless of her relationship with the man who killed her and the circumstances of her life, each of these women deserves to be remembered by name and as more than just another statistic. Almost every woman’s death leaves grieving family and friends. There should be no hierarchies in femicide.

Counting Dead Women and the Femicide Census are run by a small number of women: Rosie Allen, Dr Katie Elliot, Heather Harvey, Dr Karen Ingala Smith and Clarrie O’Callaghan. Whist we are happy for you to use our work in your own campaigns, research or other projects, we politely request that you reference the source of your data. The Femicide Census and Counting Dead Women are run entirely on donations and voluntary income. If you would like to donate to support our vital work, you can do so here.

Lost Voices of Women – A feminist perspective on ending men’s violence against women and girls

October 24, 2023 by Karen Ingala Smith

My speech at the FiLiA conference – 14 October 2023

I wonder how many of you noticed the sign that said ‘Transphobia kills us …. and hurts women’ held by one of the welcoming committee that greeted us as we arrived at the conference yesterday?

The thing is, as far as week know, there have never been a single murder of a trans identified person in Scotland. But women, between 2009 and 2021, at least 151 women were killed by men in Scotland. That’s an average of about one woman killed by a man every month. Our panel today is looking at lost voices of women and I’d like us to remember these women, their lost voices.

In this constituency alone – Glasgow Central – between 2009 and 2021, seven women have been killed by men. Let’s remember the lost voices of

Fatou Saine
Khanokporn Satjawat
Josephine Steel
Karen Buckley
Amalet Francis (not pictured)
Xin Xin Liu, and
Nasreen Buksh (not pictured).

Two of these seven women were killed by men who were strangers, five by partners or ex-partners.

We will not allow men’s rights activists to make these women invisible.

Anyway, back to the talk I’d prepared ….

One of the things I’m most frequently asking is how we can – or even whether we can – end men’s violence against women.

We talk about domestic violence and abuse, child sexual abuse, rape, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, prostitution, FGM, sexual harassment and so on as forms of men’s violence against women and girls. Often the reality of women’s lives is that it is not either/or, that what is done to them crosses boundaries between these abuses and violations to which women and girls are subjected to by men.

On top of this, there are countless other crimes, micro-aggressions and behaviours which don’t meet crime thresholds but do negatively affect, restrict and reduce the lives of women and girls.

Then there is femicide, the killing of women by men.

I started counting, commemorating and recording the killings of women by men in the UK in 2012. In 2013, my Femicide Census co-founder and executive director, Clarrie O’Callaghan had our first conversation about working together on the project that would become the Femicide Census, which we launched in 2015. The Femicide Census is now the UK’s most comprehensive source of information about women killed by men in the UK since 2009 and the men who – and circumstances in which -they killed them. We have over 2,000 women identified on our database. Since we started, the average of one woman in the UK killed by a man on average every 3 days has remained depressingly consistent.

How do we stop this?

Top of the list, I put that we need to see the connections between all forms of men’s violence against women and girls and that this is necessary for meaningful social change.

Seeing these connections is an absolutely critical step in ending men’s violence against women. But it is an early step in a very long road and there are constantly push backs, sometimes dressed up as progression. In 2010, the then coalition government launched its strategy, the ‘Call to End Violence against Women and Girls’, that strategy has been revised twice, but just over a decade later and after many years in the making – the creation of the Domestic Abuse Act. In this the concept of the connections between the different forms of men’s violence against and abuse of women and girls, is overshadowed by a landmark piece of legislation that crosses the sexes – a significant minority of us believe this was an opportunity missed, and what we would have chosen instead was a Men’s Violence Against Women Act. And it’s important that we remember that the Domestic Abuse Act does not protect all women equally. Women with insecure immigration status are not protected after MPs voted against proposed amendments to the draft bill for protections to be extended to include migrant women.

Astoundingly, neither the national strategy to end men’s violence against women, nor the Domestic Abuse Act mention Femicide. Of course, the Domestic Abuse Act doesn’t, it’s too busy making clear it applies to men. There are short mentions of domestic homicide reviews. Domestic homicide reviews are reviews carried out by agencies when someone (of either sex) aged over 16 dies as a result of domestic violence, abuse or neglect.

Roughly 58% of UK women killed by men are killed by current or former partners, with another 14% killed by other family members, it’s probably worth mentioning at this point that just over 8% of UK women killed by men in the UK are women killed by their sons.) This means that almost 30% of the killings of women by men in the UK are not subject to such a review. Women’s killed by a neighbour, a work colleague, a flatmate or by a stranger.

So, despite a national strategy to end violence against women (because of course they do not name men in the title) when it comes to domestic homicide, our statutory policy response has ignored whether killing s of women by a partner, ex-partner or family member share more in common with other killings of women by men that they do with killings of men by partners or family members. Despite some very critical differences, men killed by a current or former partner are more likely to be killed by a same sex partner and men are far more likely than women (for obvious reasons) to strangle or use the brute force of their body to kill a woman, than a woman when she kills a man.

So, whilst it’s good that concepts that were once only understood by feminists – like the connections across all forms of men’s violence against women – have become mainstream, the problem is that when that happens, the feminist foundations of the concept are usually washed out by the time they become policy. And this renders them much less effective.

Another thing we cannot shy away from and that I hinted at earlier is naming the agent: men. Man, singular and men plural as perpetrators, men as a sex class of beneficiaries and patriarchy as a social order which is shaped and reproduces itself in men’s interests.

And it should be inconceivable that one of the significant barriers that we have had to address, an issue that has taken up inordinate amounts of feminist time and energy is being able to say what a woman is and what a man is. Yet that that is the story of the last decade.

If we cannot measure sex in data we cannot measure sex differences, we cannot measure sex inequality and we cannot measure who does what to whom across the forms of sexual and domestic violence and abuse. Without the ability to do this, policy interventions will inevitably be arrows shot in the dark.

It took a grassroots crowd funded judicial review led by Fair Play for Women for the ONS to agree to define the sex question in the 2021 England and Wales Census, on the basis of sex not gender identity. It took women’s direct action. It took women’s money, it took women standing together and saying no. It should be to legislators’ shame that this was necessary.

The government spends millions on responding to men’s violence against women and girls, amounts that the feminists who began building the network of women’s refuges and rape crisis services just over 50 years ago would not have dared to dream of. But we aren’t seeing evidence that violence against women is reducing? Why not?

The main reason is that most interventions focus on the individuals who are violent, institutions that respond to that violence and a bit of mealy-mouthed nod to prevention, something they call ‘healthy relationships’ every now and again. These interventions have largely been taken out of their feminist framework.

Whilst perpetrators must of course be held responsible for their actions and behaviours, men’s violence against women is not simply reducible to individual acts perpetrated by individual men, it is key to men’s domination of women, and it is supported and normalised by patriarchal institutions, attitudes and social norms and values.

There is a high degree of negative correlation between sex equality and rates of men’s violence against women, that is, as equality increases, violence against women decreases.

Cultural concepts of masculinity and femininity need to be got shut of – certainly not embedded in the way they are in transgender identity ideology. The objectification of women and the sexualisation of that objectification needs to end. It’s long overdue for our government to have a policy position on ending prostitution. Sex equality is not possible when one sex is for sale, when women are a commodity, and the other sex is the vendor and buyer, with consumer rights of course.

We need not only to hold men to account, we need not only to ensure that policing, the law, the budget, education systems are not sexist and misogynistic, we must also address the factors in an individual which create violence, we must eradicate sex inequality, and we absolutely must uproot the social and cultural context that supports men’s violence against women. This takes us back to my earlier point, making the connections across different forms of men’s violence against women.

If we want to end men’s violence against women, we need responses that acknowledge that whilst either sex can be victim or perpetrator in most crimes, in patriarchal society violent crimes reflect sex inequality and patriarchal cultural values. Different forms of violence share root causes, and creating silos around those different forms of violence which disregard sex, moves us away from seeing and addressing those root causes.

We need policy makers to stop watering down feminist insights in an effort to appease the ‘what about the mens’, the defensive men, the men who think women’s sex-based rights and protections are not a foreground issue in politics, the men who think the concept of patriarchy is a feminist conspiracy theory, the men who think that men can be women or are afraid to say what they know: that women do not and cannot have a penis.

Simply put, if we want to end men’s violence against women and girls we need policy and strategy that is sex based and recognises patriarchal sex inequality, power structures and culture.

2023

October 2, 2023 by Karen Ingala Smith

In 2023, At least 105 UK women and girls aged 13 and over have been killed in circumstances in which a man or men are primary suspect.

6 January 2023: Beatrice Corry, 84, was found dead with head injuries in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. Her son, Matthew Corry, 45, was charged with murder. His plea of manslaughter was accepted by the court and he was detained indefinitely.
10 January 2023: Eliza Bibby, 47, was stabbed to death at her home in Wisbech by acquaintance, Jamie Boughen, 47. Boughen was convicted of murder and must serve a minimum of 22 years.
11 January 2023: Ann Scott, 57, was bludgeoned to death by her son, Joseph Scott when he was 17. Ann feared the consequences of another out-of-area mental health placement for her son, fearing he would not be safe. The judge noted that Ann was not challenged by health services when she removed him from a placement and brought back to their Sussex home after his care was deemed ‘too difficult’.
18 January 2023: Jacqueline Kerr, 54, suffered injuries consistent with a car crash or fall from height when she was attacked by ex-partner Christopher Cook, 43, at her home in Aberdeen. Cook, who was on bail at the time of the femicide, was convicted of murder. He must serve at least 20 years.
27 January 2023: Holly Newton, 15, was found fatally wounded in a suspected stabbing in Hexham, Northumberland. A 16-year-old boy suffered non-fatal injuries. Another 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon.
30 January 2023: Anne Woodbridge, 92, was found dead at a residential address in Western-super-Mare. Her husband, John Woodbridge, 91, has been charged with murder.
5 February 2023: Emma Pattison, 45, and her daughter Lettie, were found dead at their home in Epsom, Surrey. Police believe Emma was shot dead by her husband, George Pattison, 39, before he killed their daughter and then himself.
8 February 2023: Valentina Cozma, 40, was murdered by her ex-husband Georgian Constantin, 42, at her home in Stoke-on-Trent. He had arranged to meet Valentina under the pretence of repaying money. Constantin doused her in petrol and set her alight. He must serve at least 28 years.
11 February 2023: Erica Parsons, 69, was found dead her at home in Devon. She had been suffocated in her sleep by her husband, Stephen Parsons. Stephen Parsons was convicted of murder and sentenced to 13 years.
18 February 2023: Darrell Buchanan, 37, was found dead in a property in Hamilton, Glasgow. Her husband, Walter Buchanan, 64, has been charged with murder.
18 February 2023: Lorna England, 74, was stabbed to death in a park in Exeter. Cameron Davis, 31, was convicted of murder. He did not known Lorna. Davis must serve at least 28 years.
20 February 2023: Sarah Brierley, 22 February 2023: Sarah Brierley, 49, was found dead in a property in Sheffield. It is believed she was killed on or around 14 February 23 when she was struck at least five times with a blunt object, such as a hammer. Her housemate, David Scott, 39 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to at least 29 years.
21 February 2023: Edna Berry, 80, who suffered with Alzheimer’s was struck at least 14 times with a hammer, a baseball bat and a chisel by her husband, John Berry, 85, at their home in Essex. He was convicted of murder and given a 10-year sentence.
1 March 2023: Sandra Giraldo, 46, was found dead at an address in Rotherhithe, south-east London. She had been strangled. Her husband, Weimar Mosquera, 53, has been charged with murder.
4 March 2023: Charlotte Wilcock, 31, was murdered by a stranger as she sat on her doorstep of her Blackburn home. She suffered about 100 injuries, including 50 stab wounds. Anthony Stinson, 31, who had 11 previous convictions including rape and battery, was convicted of her murder.
4 March 2023: Jane Collinson, 59, suffered 59 slash wounds and a stab wound when she was attacked by with a bread knife by her neighbour at her supported accommodation in Bernard Castle, Durham. Stephen Ansbro, 60, had previously told people he would ‘kill her’ and ‘do time for her’. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 18 years. He was also convicted of sexual abuse charges against girls in the 1990s.
5 March 2023: Helen Harrison, 59, was found dead at a house in East Yorkshire. Rick Parker, 39, has been charged with ABH and murder.
11 March 2023: Ellen Marshall, 43, died from her injuries after an attack 2 years ago, on 22 April, 2021. Her boyfriend, Leigh Pateman, 45, has been charged with her murder after dousing her in petrol and setting fire to her at their flat in Skegness, Lincolnshire.
14 March 2023: Kinga Roskinska, 37, died after she was stabbed in the leg by her partner, Pawel Ondycz, 50, at his home in Birmingham. Ondycz, who had a history of violence towards Kinga, was given 12 years for manslaughter.
19 March 2023: Catherine Pryde, 74, was found dead at her home in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. She had been bludgeoned to death by her husband, John Pryde, 77. Catherine was the sole carer for her husband, who was suffering from dementia.
21 March 2023: Alesia Nazarova, 37, was found dead at her home in Portadown, NI. Kornelijus Bracas, 25, has been charged with Alesia’s murder and the attempted murder of her 12-year-old daughter. It is understood that there is a familial relationship between the victims and the accused.
27 March 2023: Holly Bramley, 26, was stabbed at least four times by her husband, Nicolas Metson, 27. Metson, who had a known history of violence against women, dismembered her body and disposed of her remains in a river. He was given a life sentence with a minimum of 19 years and 319 days.
27 March 2023: Susan Turner, 41, was found dead in a property in Ayr, Scotland. Jason Bell, 49, Dee Black, 40, Ryan Hill, 25 and Michelle Ramage,41, have been charged with murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
27 March 2023: Beryl ‘Bez’ Purdy, 86, was found with serious injuries at her home in Broomfield, Somerset when officers were called out to a reported burglary. Beryl died at the scene. David Parish, 36, was arrested in connection with her death and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He has since been charged with murder.
28 March 2023: Bernadette Rosario, 61, was found with serious facial injuries at an address near St Austell, Cornwall. She died at the scene. Michael Rowe, 36, has been charged with murder.
28 March 2023: Sara Bateman, 50, was strangled to death at her home in Wolverhampton. Her partner, Matthew Hyde, 41, pleaded guilty to murder.
28 March 2023: Nhi Muoi Wai, also known as Kim, 64, died in hospital after she collapsed during a robbery of her home in Morley, West Yorkshire. She suffered a stroke. Cousins Samuel Hanrahan, 20, and Jerry Hanrahan, 18, were convicted of manslaughter.
6 April 2023: An unnamed woman of 27 was found dead in a flat in Elephant and Castle. Police launched a murder investigation into her death. A man fell to his death five hours later. Police say the pair are known to each other and they are not looking for anyone else in connection.
8 April 2023: Carol Baxter, 64, was found dead alongside her husband Stephen, 61, at their home in Essex. Their deaths were initially treated a ‘not suspicious’ but toxicology results found the couple had ingested fentanyl. Luke D’Wit, 33, whom the couple believed to have been a friend, was convicted of double murder.
25 April 2023: Marelle Sturrock, 35, was found dead at her home in Glasgow. Two days later her partner, David Yates, 36, who was wanted by police in connection with murder, was found dead. Police Scotland, who has self-referred to Pirc, are not looking for anyone else in connection with Marelle’s death.
26 April 2023: Elise Mason, 37, died after she was found unresponsive at an address in Chelmsford, Essex. Mark Donovan, 38, has been charged with murder.
30 April 2023: Suma Begum, 24, was reported missing from an address in Tower Hamlets, London. Aminan Rahman, 45, has been charged with murder.
1 May 2023: Johanita Kossiwa Dogbey, 31, was stabbed to death in a stranger attack in Stockwell Park Walk in Brixton. Mohamed Nur, 33, was convicted of murder, possession an offensive weapon and a bladed article and three counts of unlawful wounding.
2 May 2023: Maya Devi, 77, was beaten to death with a rounders bat by her husband at their home in Hornchurch, Essex. Tarsame Singh, 79, pleaded guilty to murder and has been sentenced to a minimum of 15 years.
3 May 2023: Suzanne Henry, 54, was found with serious facial injuries at her home in Madeley, Staffordshire on 1 May 23. She died in hospital two days later. Her son, Finn Henry, 20, was charged with murder and convicted of manslaughter following psychiatric reports.
6 May 2023: Hayley Burke, 36, died in hospital of gunshot wounds sustained at her home in Kent. Her ex-partner Jacob Cloke, 29, was on life-support in hospital after an armed stand-off with police, he later died. Police are not looking for anyone else.
7 May 2023: Georgina Dowey, 46, was found dead at a property in Neath, South Wales. Her partner, Matthew Pickering, 49, was convicted of murder.
12 May 2023: Kelly Pitt, 44, was suffered internal bleeding and 41 rib fractures when she was beaten and stabbed by her son at her home in Newport. Lewis Bush, 25, pleaded guilty to murder. He must serve a minimum of 16 years.
12 May 2023: Stephanie Hodgkinson, 34, was found stabbed to death at her home in Bournemouth. Her ex-partner, Fioletti, 31, has been found guilty of murder. He will be sentenced later in the month.
13 May 2023: Holly Sanchez, 32, sustained injuries like those sustained in a car crash or fall from height when she was attacked by Ryan Evans, 30. Evans was on bail when he murdered Holly. As well as murder, he was convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour, wounding and ABH.
14-15 May 2023: Katie Higton, 27, and her partner Steven Harnett, 25, suffered multiple injuries at a property in Huddersfield. Ex-partner Marcus Osbourne, 34, pleaded guilty to double murder and to the false imprisonment and rape of another woman on the same night.
18 May 2023: Danielle Davidson, 33, was found injured in the street in Leith. She died in hospital a short time later. A 16-year-old boy has been charged in relation to her death.
19-30 May 2023: Emily Sanderson, 48, was last seen alive. She was reported missing on 25 May. Her body was found at a property in Sheffield on 30 May. She died of head injuries. Mark Nicholls, 43, has been found guilty of her murder.
20 May 2023: Christine Sargent, 73, was strangled to death at the home she shared with her husband in Loughton, Milton Keynes. Her husband, Michael Sargent, 77, was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He was detained indefinitely.
26 May 2023: Sandra Harriott, 56, died in hospital after she was found with stab injuries in Huddersfield. Her brother, Roger Harriott, 55, was convicted of her murder and possessing an offensive weapon.
26 May 2023: Fiona Robinson, 37, was found with multiple injuries at an address in Chorley, Lancashire. James Gowan, 26, has been charged with murder.
31 May 2023: Debra Cantrell, 58, was found dead at an address in Plymouth. Callum Thomas, 32, has been charged with murder.
2 June 2023: Michelle Hodgkinson, 51, was walking in the Droylsden of Greater Manchester when she was stabbed to death. A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and has since been detained under the Mental Health Act.
3 June 2023: Chloe Mitchell, 21, was last seen alive in Ballymena, County Antrim. Human remains were found on 11th June 2023. Brandon Rainey, 26, has been charged with murder.
3 June 2023: Elizabeth Richings, 83, was strangled to death by her husband Grenville Richings, 83, at their home in Dorset. The court ruled the killing was an ‘act of mercy’. Elizabeth suffered a number of health conditions. Her husband was given a suspended sentence.
9 June 2023: Chloe Bashford, 30, and her husband Josh, 33, were found dead at their home in Newhaven, East Sussex. Derek Martin, also known as Derek Glenn, 64, has been charged with two counts of murder.
9 June 2023: Felecia Cadore, 29, was stabbed at an address in Croydon, Surrey. She died on 14 June in hospital. Hussain Haron, 22, has been charged with her murder.
13 June 2023: Tejaswini Kontham, 27, was stabbed to death at a house in Wembley. Keven Antonio Lourenco De Morais, 23, has been charged with murder and attempted murder of another woman.
13 June 2023: Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, was stabbed to death on a street in Nottingham during a series of attacks in the city centre. Grace was trying to protect her friend when she was killed. Barnaby Webber, 19, and Ian Coates, 65, were also killed. Three other people were injured when they were hit by van. Valdo Calocane, 31, has been charged with multiple murder and attempted murder.
16 June 2023: Monika Wlodarczyk, 35, and her children Maja, 11 and Dawid, 3, were found dead at their home in Hounslow. Monika died of stab wounds. Their husband/father Michal Wlodarczyk, 39, was also found dead with stab wounds. Police are treating the death of Monika and her two children as murder and they are not looking for anyone else in connection with their deaths.
20 June 2023: Fiona Holm, 48, was last seen alive. Carl Cooper, 65, has been charged with her murder and the murder of Naomi Hunte, 41, who was found stabbed to death at home on 14 February 2022. Cooper was known to both women.
21 June 2023: Nelly Akomah, 76, was found dead at a residential property in Croydon. Hugo Da Silva Pires, 28, has been charged with murder, burglary and fraud.
22 June 2023: Natasha Morais, 40, was found dead at her home in Leicestershire. She had been beaten, burnt and then strangled to death by her boyfriend, Shannon Grant, 27. He was given a minimum of 34 years.
26 June 2023: Sarah Henshaw, 31, was found dead in a lay-by off the M1 near Chesterfield. She had not been seen since 20 June. Darren Hall, 36, has been charged with murder.
27 June 2023: Lynette Nash, 64, was found with serious injuries at her home in Portishead. She died at the scene. Her son, Gavin Nash, 39, has been charged with murder.
27 June 2023: Elizabeth Watson, 58, was found dead at her home in Aberdeenshire. Jonathon Divers, 30, has been charged with murder.
14 July 2023: Rose Jobson, 69, is believed to have been shot dead by her husband at their home in Lincolnshire. It is believed Robert Jobson, 84, took his own life after the killing.
17 July 2023: Colette Law, 26, was found dead in a tent in churchyard in Lincolnshire. Paul Neilson, 30, has been charged with murder.
20 July 2023: Sharon Gordon, 58, was murdered by Peter Norgrove, 43, following a disagreement about works he has carried out on her home in Dudley. She suffered serious head injuries, possibly inflicted by eight hammer blows. Norgrove pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years.
24 July 2023: Ann Blackwood, 71, was found fatally injured in a cemetery in Stubbington, Hampshire. Her ex-husband, Martin Suter, 66, has been charged with murder.
29 July 2023: Hazel Huggins, 53, was found dead at a home in Plymouth, Devon. Bradley Huggins, 24, has been charged with murder.
29 July 2023: Amy Rose Wilson, 27, died in a car crash in Falkirk. Andrew Gregoire, 27 and Anthony Davidson, 30, have been charged with murder.
30 July 2023: Claire Orrey, 58, was found dead at a home in Telford. Her husband also sustained serious injuries. Robert Orrey, 31, is charged with murder and attempted murder.
31 July 2023: Lynsey Timms, 41, was found in cardiac arrest at a house in Nuneaton. She died four days later. Ryan Timms, 43, is charged with her murder.
1 August 2023: Liwam Bereket, 26, was found stabbed in woodland in Birmingham. Filmon Andmichaen, 30, has been charged with murder.
3 August 2023: Christine Emmerson, who stabbed 30 times by her son at their home in Lincolnshire. Shaun Emmerson, 51, was charged with murder. He was later found unfit for trial due to mental illness. A jury accepted the facts of the case and Shaun Emmerson was detained indefinitely.
5 August 2023: Kelli Bothwell, 53, was found injured at a home in South Yorkshire. She died from a stab wound. Her husband, Paul Cousans, 52, pleaded guilty to murder. He will be sentenced in January 2024.
23 August 2023: Claire Knights, 54, was last seen alive in Canterbury. She was found dead two days later. Harrison Lawrence-van Poss, 20, has been charged with murder. He is also charged with voyeurism following a separate investigation on 22 August.
29 August 2023: Chintzia McIntyre, 48, was found dead outside her home in Warrington. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with murder.
1 September 2023: Gabriela Kosilko, 26, was last seen alive. Her body was found in woodland on 6 September. Sebastian Zarnoch, 30, was held on suspicion of murder and kidnap. He died in police custody. Police are not looking for anyone else.
18 September 2023: Susanne Galvin, 55, was found unconscious at a home in Bury on 16 September. She died in hospital two days later. Stephen Ball, 31, has been charged with murder.
21 September 2023: Alison Dodds, 51, was strangled, smothered and suffered several broken ribs when she was murdered by Alex Hindley, 35, at his home in Lancashire. Hindley had offered Alison, who was homeless, a place to stay.
23 September 2023: Carrie Slater, 37, died after being shot by her partner at their home near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire on 21 September 2023. Richard Basson, 44, has been found guilty of murder. He was known to be violent in their relationship.
24 September 2023: Helen Clarke, 77, was hit repeatedly over the head with a hammer by her husband before he set their car on fire and drove it into on-coming traffic on 22 September 23. David Clarke, 80, was sentenced to 21 years and eight months for murder.
25 September 2023: Ruth Hufton, 46, was strangled to death with a scarf at her home in Beeston by friend and neighbour Anthony Green, 50. Green was charged with murder. His plea of guilty to manslaughter was accepted by the court. He was sentenced to 12 years.
27 September 2023: Elianne Andam, 15, was stabbed to death at a bus stop in Croydon. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with murder.
30 September 2023: Charlene Mills, 43, died following an incident at a property in Gorton, Manchester. Peter Pitt, 52, has been charged with murder.
9 October 2023: Deborah Boulter, 53, was found dead at a home in Nottingham. Police launched a murder investigation into her death. Officers also found the body of David Boulter, 60, at the address. Police are not looking for anyone else.
17 October 2023: Melissa Eastick, 36, died at a home in Stockton Terrace, Northumbria, after suffering serious injuries. Stephen Todd, 41, has been charged with her murder.
17 October 2023: Celia Barlow and her husband David, who lived in Berkshire, were killed whilst on holiday in Uganda. Their tour guide was also killed. Abdul Rashid Kyoto has been charged with multiple murder and terrorism related offences.
23 October 2023: Mandy Barnett, 60, was stabbed at a house in Leeds and passed away that evening. A boy of 17-years has been charged with murder.
25 October 2023: Denise Steeves, 59, stabbed to death at Diamond Meadow Lodge Park in Brean, Somerset. Her husband, Simon Steeves, 71, was convicted of murder.
29 October 2023: Mehak Sharma, 19, was stabbed to death at a home in Croydon. Her husband, Sahil Sharma, 23, was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years for murder.
30 October 2023: Caroline Gore, 44, was found dead at an address in Wigan. David Liptrot, 56, has been charged with murder.
30 October 2023: Sian Hammond, 46, was found dead at a house in Cambridgeshire. Her husband, Robert Hammond, 47, has been charged with murder.
2 November 2023: Christie Eugene, 64, was found with injuries at a home in Brixton. She later died in hospital. Her son, Jason Phinn, 35, has been charged with murder.
7 November 2023: Sharon Butler, 64, was stabbed to death by her brother at their home in Essex. Kevin Shepherd, 54, was convicted of murder.
10 November 2023: Perseverance Ncube, 35, known as Percy to her family and friends, was stabbed to death in front of her two children at an address in Salford. Obert Mayo, 45, has been charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
10 November 2023: Victoria Greenwood was last seen alive. Sex-buyer, Robert Brown, 38, was captured on CCTV attacking Victoria and then dragging her back inside his flat in Hitchin. Her burnt body was found on 14 November in car park. Postmortem indicated blunt force trauma. Brown was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years.
11 November 2023: Annette Smith, 74, went missing from her home in Bedfordshire. Human remains were found in a storage unit in Hertfordshire on 30 April. Scott Paterson, 44, has been charged with murder.
15 November 2023: Dawn Robertson, 62, was found unresponsive at a home in St Helens, Merseyside. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, Stuart Robertson, 68, has been charged with murder.
19 November 2023: Salam Alshara, 27, was found seriously injured and died a short time later. The father of her four children, Wahib Albaradan, 35, is charged with murder.
20 November 2023: Alison Bowen, 41, was found with significant injuries when police were called to reports of an assault in Kingswood, Bristol. She was pronounced dead as short time later. Darryl Bowen, 43, is charged with murder.
16 November 2023: Kiesha Donaghy, 32, was found dead at her home in Elgin, Moray. Owen Grant, 41, has been charged with murder.
27 November 2023: Milica Zilic, 28, was found dead at a property in Stafford. Dale Crooks, 33, has been charged with murder.
28 November 2023: Taiwo Abodunde, 41, was stamped on, strangled and beaten with a skateboard by her husband at their home in Suffolk. Olubunmi Abodunde, 47, was subject to bail conditions for a domestic violence related incident in which Taiwo sustained an injury to her lip. He must serve at least 17 years.
5 December 2023: Lianne Gordon, 42, was shot dead outside a home in Lower Clapton. A man of 20 and a boy of 16 were also wounded in the shooting. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder.
15 December 2023: Kamaljeet Mahey, who was in her 40s, was found stabbed at a home in Wolverhampton. Rajveer Mahey, 39, has been charged with murder.
15 December 2023: Glenna Siviter, 50, was stabbed 36 times at her home in Middlesborough by Andrew Hall, 57. She believed him to be a friend. Hall stole her jewellery and hid her body under a sofa. Hall was convicted of her murder as well as attempted murder and wounding with intent of two men.
24 December 2023: Kacey Clarke, 22, was stabbed to death at a home in Bermondsey, south London. A 16-year-old boy, who was known to Kacey, has been charged with murder.

Nevertheless, I persisted

May 24, 2023 by Karen Ingala Smith

Why I still wanted to be in the Labour Party

I left Labour in a fit of pique in 2018 when the then General secretary, Jennie Formby, announced that all-women-shortlists would no longer be women only.

I applied to join again in December 2019 after the election defeat. I wanted to be part of building the party ready to win the next election because I am a socialist as well as a feminist. The thought of another five-years of Tory rule was bad enough. I wanted to help make sure that it wasn’t ten.

My application was rejected on the grounds that information had been brought to the party’s attention that I had engaged in conduct online “that may reasonably be seen to demonstrate hostility based on gender identity”. I wrote about the saga here. I appealed. The appeal process concluded in July 2020, my appeal was unsuccessful.

I reapplied in June 2021, just after the Forstater ruling. It was now recognised in law that beliefs such as mine, that is, recognition of the reality of the difference between sex and gender, knowing that people cannot change sex, that women are disadvantaged if we can’t even name and measure sex discrimination (and so many more examples) were “worthy of respect in a democratic society” and our right to that belief was a protected characteristic. However, my application was rejected again. The reason given to me was that it had not been two years since my initial rejection.

So, two years after my application had been initially rejected (on 24 March 2022), I applied again. I was rejected again. This time I was given the reason that it was not two years since my appeal was rejected. So, I applied again on 21 July 2022, two years to the day of the conclusion of the appeal process. I got no response. Just in case my application had fallen down the back of a metaphorical filing cabinet, I applied again at the end of March 2023.

I’m very pleased to share that I am now a member of the Labour Party.

Why have I bothered to persist with a party that didn’t want me? Because – despite the imperfections of the Labour Party, and yes, I know there are many – I firmly believe that Labour offers the best policies for the majority of women in the UK.

I know the term ‘socialist feminist’ has again become a term of derision to some, but it’s a badge I’m proud to wear. I’m a feminist. I’m a socialist. They’re not incompatible, in fact I think that neither can be what it claims to be without the other. I prioritise women and within that I prioritise women who have been subjected to men’s violence. But I recognise that sex is not the only axis of oppression and privilege. I recognise that class, race, other inequalities and iniquitous social policies mean some women have fewer life chances and opportunities than others. I believe that the Labour Party deals with these inequalities better than the Tories and are the only Party which could possible beat the Tories in England and Wales in a general election.

Many women – and some men – some whose names some of us know and some whose names most of us do not, are working behind the scenes to make legislative and policy change. And of course, there are many whose work is visible and recognised. Some of these women and men are making sure that the Labour Party does not let women’s sex-based rights and protections slip like dry sand through fingers. Thank you to all those people for the fight you are fighting and the differences that you are making. Thank you for trying even where you fail or feel like you’re failing.

Some on the left have turned their backs on women’s rights. It has ever been thus. But feminists do not have to turn our backs on inequalities beyond sex inequality. Women don’t lead single issue lives and I’m not a single-issue feminist. Gender identity ideology is a threat to women’s rights and the mechanisms for responding to the many manifestations of sex inequality. It is an important fight but it is not our only fight. I’m not going to let sexist men, misogynistic men and women who won’t fight for women define the left or drive the rest of us out of grassroots or mainstream politics. I’m not going to sit back and let them write-off those of us who fight for women’s rights as right-wingers and traditionalists. I’m not going to collude with those on the right whose gender criticism aligns with regressive politics and a roll back of women’s freedoms or LGB equality. Whilst it’d be churlish of me to not acknowledge that some who are not of the left are making important contributions to the fight against gender identity ideology and resistance to ideological capture and I myself am of the left. I think and hope that I always will be. I’m not going to stop Defending Women’s Spaces. And I want the next UK government to be a Labour government.

Karen Ingala Smith

As I see it

Author Archives: Karen Ingala Smith

2025

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

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

Sarah Owen, MP, newly elected chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, on Woman’s Hour

2024

As Chief Executive of a charity, part of your job is to set the tone

At least 100 UK women are suspected to have been killed by men in 2023

Lost Voices of Women – A feminist perspective on ending men’s violence against women and girls

2023

Nevertheless, I persisted

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