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Nevertheless, I persisted

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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.

Picking our targets

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Neither Jess Phillips nor Brianna Ghey will be mine.

Today, for the eighth year running, in the Parliamentary International Women’s Day debate, MP Jess Phillips read out the names of women in the UK who have been killed since the previous years IWD debate and where a man or men are principal suspects. This year the list contained the names of 107 women, the youngest, Holly Newton was just 15 years old, the oldest, Anne Woodbridge was 92.

I have been collating and commemorating UK women killed by men for 11 years, since the murder of 20-year-old Kirsty Treloar on the 2nd January 2012.

I am grateful to Jess Phillips for amplifying my work and for doing something that I could not do without her: ensuring that those women’s names are afforded the respect of being recorded in perpetuity in the official parliamentary record. This year and last year, Jess invited members of families of women who have been killed by men, some of them whose names have been read out in previous years, to sit in the House of Commons public gallery to listen. Jess and I are frequently told how much this gesture means to those who knew and loved the women who are commemorated.

This year, following the suggestion of my Femicide Census co-founder and fellow Director, Clarrie O’Callaghan, two weeks ago the Femicide Census wrote to every MP who had one or more constituents whose names were going to be read out.  84 letters were sent and followed up by email. We asked MPs to honour their constituents and act to prevent further femicides. We told them that femicide is a local and national problem occurring within the broader context of men’s violence against women which inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men. Seven MPs acknowledged our letter: Rosie Duffield, Rushanara Ali, Lillian Greenwood, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper, John McDonnell and Andrew Lewer. Others were visible in the parliamentary broadcast. However, like preceding years, the benches were noticeably empty. Whilst each man who chooses to end a woman’s life must be held to account and to justice, the names stand as a roll call of state failure, the government could be doing so much more to end men’s violence against women and girls. The almost empty chamber does not reflect well on political will to address men’s violence against women.

Counting Dead Women and sister project the Femicide Census record men’s fatal violence against women in the UK. Through this work we know that on average, a woman is killed by a man every 2.6 days, and by a current or former partner approximately every four days. We know that after current or former partners, the next largest group of males killing female relatives is sons who kill their mothers. It was the work of the Femicide Census that told us that Wayne Couzens was one of 16 former or serving police officers who had killed women between 2009 and his murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021. At least 237 women are suspected to have been killed by men in the UK since Sarah’s death.

There has been a significant response online to Phillips’ decision to acknowledge the death of Brianna Ghey in February this year after reading the names of women and girls. Ghey was a 16-year-old male who had a transgender in identity. A boy and a girl, both 15, have been charged with Ghey’s murder. An inquest opened yesterday and has been adjourned pending criminal proceedings. Ghey’s alleged murder was marked by thousands of people attending candlelit vigils across the UK. None of the names of the women and girls read out today attracted comparable responses. Yet like those who loved Ghey, each of those women and girls will have left devastated and still grieving family and friends. It is Ghey’s name trending on social media. I wish the killing of every woman and every girl, in the UK and across the world, attracted the comparable energy and condemnation. They rarely do.

As far as I’m aware, it’s just over four years between Brianna Ghey’s death and the previous most recent known murder of a transgender person in the UK, that of Amy Griffiths in January 2019. In that same period in the UK, at least 453 females aged over 14 years have been killed by males. Don’t let’s add to the deflection of attention from women and girls. My focus, like always, is those women and girls. That doesn’t negate the tragedy of the any male life taken. Whether or not we agree with Jess’s decision, let’s not make her or Brianna Ghey the scapegoats. We should be demanding action from the elected representatives and others with power and influence, who do nothing or little to end men’s violence against and abuse of women and girls. They’re the ones we should be castigating.

If you’re reading this maybe you could identify the women who’ve been killed by men in your constituency. There are currently 1,414 women’s names listed in my blog, 1,425 women named in the Femicide Census 10-year report. Ask your MP what they are doing to honour these women, what they are doing to end femicide, what they are doing to end men’s violence against women, girls and children. You could ask your MP what they are doing to protect specialist women-led independent services for women who have been subjected to men’s violence in your area. We can all be part of a legacy to women who have been killed by men.

My speech at the Labour Women’s Declaration Fringe Meeting at the Labour Party Conference 2022

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What do women need from the Labour Manifesto?

The last Labour manifesto fell well short of pledging to develop an ambitious strategy to end sexual and domestic violence and abuse, and prostitution.  However, it did say that a Labour government would,

“Ensure that the single-sex-based ‘exemptions’ contained in the Equality Act 2010 are understood and fully enforced in service provision.”

It also promised sustainable funding for refuges and rape crisis services. So, in that respect, whilst it wasn’t perfect it wasn’t’ bad.  It’s such a shame that two years later, the party leader couldn’t even say that only women have cervixes, which might suggest that he’d have a problem upholding a pledge to protect single-sex services.

I not here tonight to tell you what I think a strategy to end men’s violence against women and girls would look like. Suffice to say, that’s going to be my second book and I haven’t quite written it yet. Tonight, I’m here to tell you about my first book, due to be published in two months, on 25th November, called Defending Women’s Spaces.

Defending Women’s Spaces reflects my 32 years’ experience of working in specialist services for women who have been subjected to men’s violence and the research and campaigning that I’ve read and done alongside it. And my experience, like many of the women who I have worked with, and independent research: tells me that female survivors’ needs are best met in women-only spaces.

On the matter of males who transition? Do they belong in our women-only services? I say no. The minute you say that you provide access to services through gender identity, not sex, your services become mixed sex services. Males who have transitioned – if we accept that transition can be meaningful – are not a risk to women because they are trans but because they are male. The most rigorous data that we have currently on trans males and their rates of committing violent crime, tells us that at best their crimes followed the pattern of male offending, and that was only if they received psychological support as well as surgery and hormones. Without psychological support, trans males’ rates of violent offending were significantly higher than those of other males.

Defending Women’s Spaces focuses on spaces for women survivors of men’s violence though I also briefly look at other areas. I look at sex differences in perpetration of and victimisation in violence. I dismantle and disprove the myth that it is trans people who are at greatest risk of murder.  I pull apart the lie that risk assessment can make it safe for males to be included in women’s spaces. I look at how telling women victim-survivors – that someone that we all know is male is actually a woman- is nothing more than a variation of the psychological abuse done to them by the man or men who had been abusing them. I look at trauma and explain why women-only space is necessary for recovery. I also explore why so many so-called specialist service providers seem to have abandoned their principles and stopped putting women first.

Including males with trans identities in services for women can mean excluding some of the most vulnerable women who need support. We know this will mean some women will self-exclude, because they tell us.

Not all women will be subjected to men’s violence and abuse, though globally one in three of us are at some point during our life. Not all women who suffer men’s violence will develop a trauma response. We can recognise that some women need or benefit from women -only spaces more than others. It’s true that not all women who have been abused by men want women-only spaces, but surely these women should not deny that right to those who do.

Labour needs to show its commitment to ending the sex hierarchy. Labour needs grow a backbone. The Labour Party needs to commit to ending men’s violence against women; and unless or until we ever reach that utopia, we need single sex spaces for women who have been subjected to men’s violence.

Sex differences in intimate partner homicide (England and Wales) April 2009 to March 2020

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One day, people might stop asking me ‘What about the men?’ but that day isn’t here yet. This is the third time I’ve written a blog comparing sex differences in intimate partner homicide but it’s five years since the last time and so it’s time for an update.

This information is about people aged over 16 in England and Wales who have been identified as having been killed by current or former partners by The Office of National Statistics (ONS) for the 11 years ending March 2020. I’ve used ONS data because – although the Femicide Census data for women killed by men is much richer, we do not collect data on male victims or on women killed by women – it’s important to use consistent ways of collecting information for everyone. The ONS data doesn’t break down the data for victims of intimate partner homicide by the sex of the perpetrator so I requested this from them.  

In the 11 years from April 2009 to March 2020, 1,027 people were killed by a current or former partner, defined by the ONS as when the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator falls into one of the following categories: spouse, common-law spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, ex-spouse, ex-cohabiting partner or ex-boyfriend or girlfriend or adulterous relationship.  890 (86.7%) of the victims were female, 137 (13.3%) were male. So, for every 2 men killed, there were thirteen women.

But there are differences in who is doing the killing too. Of 137 male victims, 109 were killed by women. Of 890 female victims, 884 (99%) were killed by men. There were 912 men who killed a current or former partner and 115 women. So, one in five men (20.4%) killed by a current or former partner were killed by a man; for women, approximately one in 147 women killed by a current or former partner were killed by a woman.  Men who are killed by a current or former partner are 29 times more likely to be killed by someone of the same sex than women are.

There is a further important difference too, but this can’t be found in the ONS data. When the Femicide Census published our 10-year report on women killed by men in the UK between 2009 and 2018, we found evidence in 59% of cases that the man who killed them had been violent and/or abusive to them in the past. We think this is highly likely to be an undercount since it is not unusual for women to tell no-one that they are being abused, and also in many cases, this might not have been reported in publicly available information even if someone did know about it. The Centre for Women’s Justice looked at women who have killed current or former male partners. They found a very different picture, that in 77% of cases, it was the man who had been killed who had been abusing the woman who killed him.

So, in answer to that question: yes, sometimes women kill male current/former partners but there are four critical sex differences:

  • 87% of people killed by current or former partners are women
  • 89% of people who killed a current or former partner are men
  • Men who are killed by a partner or ex are more likely to be killed by someone of the same sex (29 times more likely)

Women are likely to have been abused by the man who killed them in the years (or sometimes months) before their deaths, men who are killed by female partners are very likely to have been abusing the women who killed them in the years of months before their deaths

Truth, lies and Storytelling

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I overheard a discussion on Radio Four’s Today programme this morning (8 June 2021) that contained such a blatant piece of misinformation imparted by Benjamin Cohen, CEO of Pink News, that I felt compelled to transcribe it.

Justin Webb: Just on the point about abolishing legal provisions for single sex spaces, do you not accept that it is perfectly acceptable for women to campaign for those single sex spaces and to say that those who have changes sex should not be in them?

Benjamin Cohen…..[Evades question and talks about something else for a few moments]   and goes on to say, over again, it’s a debate about trans issues without a single trans voice being heard

Justin Webb: Hang on number one, you don’t know anything about me; number two, I asked you a question, would you answer it?

Benjamin Cohen: Sure bit, I just, I’ve made a statement, is this a debate about trans issues with no trans voice?

Justin Webb: Yeah, you’ve made your statement, now could you answer the question?

Benjamin Cohen: You made the statement which is that the provisions around who hets access to single sex spaces has changed, that hasn’t changed, the EqualityAct was passed in 2010, there’s been no changes to that

Justin Webb: Yeah, hang on, what I’m suggesting is that Stonewall would like to change it, and a lot of women are worried about

Benjamin Cohen: Sorry, you just claimed that but that’s not actually true. So, Stonewall supports self-ID  (Justin Webb : Exactly) which is about, simply about paperwork, so you’ve been able to self-ID for practical purposes for the Equality Act, since 2010,

Justin Webb:  But not for instance to go to a safe space for women, like a women’s refuge, those a protected  aren’t they

Benjamin Cohen: (speaking over Justin Webb): yeah, and they continue to be protected.

Justin Webb: And does Stonewall …

Benjamin Cohen: Can you answer me a question, Justin, has Stonewall said that those spaces should be open to trans people, I don’t believe they have

Justin Webb: Well, exactly

Benjamin Cohen: this is the problem,

Justin Webb:  But hang on, I think we agree on this

Benjamin Cohen: It’s such misinformation

Justin Webb:  Hang on,  I think we agree on this in that case because, is it the case, or is it not the case that Stonewall, is campaigning for those safe spaces not to be women only?

Benjamin Cohen: They aren’t campaigning for that, that’s just misinformation being spread by a homophobic and transphobic media, I’m afraid.

The thing is, Benjamin, you’re the one that’s not telling the truth here. The extract below shows that Stonewall are campaigning or did campaign for the removal of the protection of women’s single sex spaces. This is from Stonewall’s  submission to Women & Equalities Select Committee Inquiry on Transgender Equality submitted on 27 August 2015. Stonewall’s recommendations included:

““A review of the Equality Act 2010 to include ‘gender identity’ rather than ‘gender reassignment’ as a protected characteristic and to remove exemptions, such as access to single-sex spaces”

Screenshot

(Source Woman’s Place UK, Evidence of calls to remove single sex exemptions from Equality Act: https://womansplaceuk.org/references-to-removal-of-single-sex-exemptions/)

Saying that Stonewall hasn’t campaigned for the removal of women’s single-sex spaces looks a lot like misinformation being spread by a media that doesn’t acknowledge the need for women’s single sex spaces to me. Your move, Benjamin.

Can we talk about the claim that since lockdown, five women a week have been killed by men in the UK, because I don’t think it’s true

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I’ve been Counting Dead Women, women killed by men in the UK since January 2012 and as one of the founders of the Femicide Census have access to records of women killed by men in the UK going back to 2009. From this, I can say that we know that on average since 2009, a woman has been killed by a man in the UK every three days. Because that’s an average, sometimes it is more frequently than that, and sometimes it’s less. It means that we know that the oft quoted statistic, that two women a week are killed in England and Wales by their partner or ex, is inaccurate. My work on this issue means I’m often well placed to have a sense when something unusual is happening, and as importantly, I have access to information to check out my hunches, The Femicide Census.

This – noticing something unusual was going on – happened last March, just after the first national lockdown.  In the first week of lockdown, 10 women (and two children) were killed by men. That’s not one woman every 3 days, it’s one woman every 16.8 hours. It wasn’t two women a week, it was ten in a week. The oldest was 80, the youngest was 24 years old. For seven women, the suspect was her husband, partner or lover, for one he was her son, for another he was her father and one woman was killed by a stranger.  The next week, three women were killed by men, and the same the following week. 3 weeks into lockdown, 15 women had been killed by men. So, it’s true, for the first three weeks of lockdown, on average, five women a week had been killed by men, through this was largely driven by the 10 women killed in the first week. This was the snapshot for a specific period in time, 23 March – 12 April 2020.  This was three times higher than the average for the same three weeks since 2009 (five), though the actual numbers had varied between nine women in 2009 and two women in 2013, 2018 and 2019. It’s not the only time when for a short period of time there has been an atypically high number of women killed. Another example is January 2012, when in the first three days of the year, eight women were killed by men and don’t know if I’d have even started Counting Dead Women if that hadn’t coincided with the murder of Kirsty Treloar.

I shared this information at the time, there was a lot of interest. If I’m honest, I will say it pissed me off, why was one woman every three days barely worthy of mention? I wasn’t impressed by attempts to frame the killings of women in 2020 as ‘due to COVID-19’ and wrote this piece, Coronavirus Doesn’t Cause Men’s Violence Against Women about the suspected levels of men’s fatal violence against women  and what might or might not be causing an apparent increase.

But the things I’m hearing now are at best: ‘it was five women a week during lockdown’, and at the most inaccurate: ‘it’s been five women a week killed by current or former partners since lockdown.’

Because of the work by The Femicide Census, we know that there have been patterns in the numbers of women killed by men over time. Between 2009 and 2018, on average, more women tended to be killed in April than in any other month, followed by December. I was able to use information from the Femicide Census database to compare how many women had been killed in the same time period (week beginning, 23 March, week beginning 30 March, week beginning 6 April and so on) for every week since 2009.  I did that for every week of the initial national lockdown, or until 31 May.

By 31 May 2020, I was aware of 26 women who were suspected of having been killed by men in the 10 weeks since 23 March. The average for those same 10 weeks between 2009 and 2019 was 24.7 women, the highest was 30 women in 2010, the lowest was 17 women in 2013. In other words, the rates of women being killed by men had returned to pretty much an average level of unacceptable for the time of year and that continues for the rest of 2020.

I should mention that the numbers I used from 2019 and 2020 were based on media searches alone, we hadn’t analysed the Freedom of Information requests for the Femicide Census for 2019 at that point and we wouldn’t be sending those for 2020 out until 2021.  I am expecting that the real numbers for 2019 and 2020 will be a bit higher.  I am also worried about what might happen as we move on from the pandemic, if we move on from the pandemic, because another of the findings of the Femicide Census, is that 43% of women killed by their partners do so at some point during or after the process of separation. Will more women leave abusive partners as lockdown eases again? Will we see this reflected in lethal violence from jealous, possessive and controlling men?  

It’s also important to mention that at both Counting Dead Women and the Femicide Census include all women killed by men. There are some important differences in the characteristics between women killed by current and former partners, for example the presence of coercive control, or, what would good support services look like? But there are some commonalities too. What’s the impact of the status of women? What’s the impact of the sexual objectification of women? What’s the impact of male entitlement? I believe that we can learn something about the role of such issues if we look at the killing of women by men, rather than restricting ourselves to current and former partners only, even though the latter make up the greatest proportion of femicides in the UK (on average 62%).

Data matters, but it’s important that we use it correctly. It’s important that we don’t extrapolate what was happening at a moment in time to what happens all the time. We should not need to exaggerate the numbers of women being killed by men to make people with influence address men’s violence against women. If we think 15 women in three weeks is unacceptable and worthy of outrage, surely, we’re not saying that the average number for three weeks, seven women, (one woman every 3 days) is fine and nothing to rise up against?

Am I naive – obviously I am – in the belief I had that facts were checked before use in the national media? Can those with editorial roles stop the use of ‘two women a week’ and respect the work of those of us who have tried to get accurate data?  How does a claim that five women a week have been killed by current or former partners since lockdown, get through whatever editorial process is supposed to happen?

Most importantly though and as always, we must remember that dead women are never merely numbers, data or statistics. They were real living women once, most of them leaving family and friends who loved them shocked and in mourning, so many people left with a gap that they’ll feel the pain of for the rest of their lives.  We should try to do the right thing by these women and try to make changes that will protect the women and girls of the future. What are we going to do to end men’s violence against women and girls?

Counting Dead Trans People

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No, Angela Crawley, in the UK, it’s not the same and it’s not a greater risk

In the Women and Equalities Select Committee on reform of the Gender Recognition Act on 21 April 2021, Angela Crawley, Scottish National Party MP for Lanark and Hamilton East and the SNP Shadow Attorney General asked

” Would you agree, and I think we can all agree on the prevalence of male violence, and the instance of how often this occurs and often it is a male perpetrator against a female individual, would you agree that individuals who perhaps, perhaps a trans female has transitioned*, they are also at equally and perhaps greater risk of the same violence and the same issues that you’ve expressed around patriarchy. Would it be possible for a women’s refuge to have a policy that is both inclusive provides that safety that provides those single sex spaces built also is able to provide a service that recognises that individuals who are transgender may also be the victims of the very same violence and they might also need protection from those very similar services that we’re discussing.”

(*It’s anyone’s guess who she means here? A trans female who has transitioned surely means female to ‘transman’, but I think she is so determined not to use words referring to maleness for ‘transwomen’ that she means a male who has so-called transitioned to ‘transwoman.’)

Firstly, let’s get this out of the way, you cannot be both single sex and trans inclusive, unless you mean women and ‘transmen’ together or men with ‘transwomen’. If you have transwomen in a women’s refuge it is not single sex. It cannot be.

Angela Crawley seemed to be trying to say that trans people are perhaps more at risk from the same men’s violence as women are.  This isn’t true with regards to fatal violence. Men’s fatal violence against males who identify as transgender does not follow the same pattern as men’s fatal violence against women.

As far as I know, nine males who fall under the trans umbrella have been killed in the UK since 2009. I don’t know which of them would have described themselves as cross-dressers, transsexuals, transwomen, trans women, or even say that they are women but using Stonewall’s concept of the trans umbrella, there are nine and I don’t want to open myself to accusations of undercounting. There have been over 1,800 women killed by men in the UK in the same time.  These 9 people are

  1. Andrea Waddel, 29, killed by a punter (sex buyer), Neil McMillan, in Brighton in October 2009
  2. Destiny Lauren, 29, killed by a punter (sex buyer) Leon Fyle, in London in November 2009
  3. David/Sonia Burgess, 63, killed by Senthooran (Nina) Kanagasingham, a trans friend/associate (male who identified as trans at the time), in London in October 2010
  4. Lionel/Suzie Morl, 49, referred to in the press as a transvestite, who was killed by a couple with drug problems and who appear to have been exploiting him:  David Hardman, 51, and Tracey Hurrell,  32, in Manchester in July or August 2011. Note the age difference between this couple, which is often (not always) an indicator of an abusive relationship
  5. Chrissie Azzopardi, 22, who was killed by a neighbour, Romy Maynard, possibly over drug debts, in London in April 2012
  6. Vanessa Santillan, 33, who was killed by husband Joaquin Hernandez in London in March 2015
  7. William Lound, 30, a gay man who occasionally wore clothes that have been described as women’s clothes, was killed by Lee Arnold. Arnold killed Lound after the two had had sex, in Salford in August 2016. The murder of William Lound has been described both as a homophobic murder and an anti-trans one
  8. Naomi Hersi, 36, who was killed by punter (sex buyer) Jesse McDonald after a drugs and sex hook-up in London in March 2018
  9. Amy Griffiths, 51, was killed by Martin Saberi, in Worcestershire on 11 January 2019. The two have been described as friends.

None of those above were killed in Scotland, where Angela Crawley is an MP. None. Since 2009, at least 129 women have been killed by men in Scotland. 17 women have been killed by men in Scotland since the last known murder of a trans person in the UK. Why can’t you see or why do you turn your back on the violence done to women by men, Angela?

We know from the Femicide Census that 62% of women who were killed by men between 2009 and 2018 were killed by a current or former partner.  In the year ending March 2020, the Office for National Statistics says that 46% of adult females and 7% of males were killed in domestic homicides. The ONS also said that 29% of female homicide victims recorded no suspect had been charged for the offence at the time of analysis. This will decrease as investigations proceed and the percentage of cases where a woman’s current or former partner is identified as being responsible for her death is likely to increase.  The proportion of males killed by current or former partners is consistent with previous years. 8% of male homicide victims were killed by a partner in the year ending March 2019, 1% in the year ending March 2018 and 3% in the year ending March 2017. Note also that males are much more likely to be killed by a same sex partner, fatal violence is very rare in lesbian relationships.

Given the number of trans people killed in the UK, annual trends in the composition of their relationships with their killer isn’t possible. There have been nine over eleven years and none since Amy Griffiths in 2019. Only one was killed by their partner.  Most women’s refuges work exclusively with women who are fleeing partners, ex-partners and in some cases, family members. That doesn’t mean other people don’t need places of safety or support but it does mean that their experiences are different and their needs are too. Women in refuges benefit from being able to place what was done to them in the context of the abuse that other women have been subjected to by men they loved. Sometimes it is through seeing that another woman was not to blame for what was done to her that they are able to begin to stop blaming themselves. Sharing with and listening to other women is a huge part of healing and moving on. Women don’t enter refuges for fun. For most there is no other choice and many are in fear of their life. The number of men who kill or attempt to kill their female partners shows that women’s fears are well grounded. I’ve written in other places about the importance of single-sex spaces for women who have been subjected to men’s violence, for example here, about the necessity of trauma informed services for women being single sex and here, more generally in a speech I delivered in Scottish Parliament in January 2020.

Looking beyond fatal violence and at childhood sexual abuse, prevalence is not equal or greater for males who identify as transgender than it is for females. We know that both girls and boys can be subjected to child sexual abuse and that grooming of younger gay males by older men is an established form of abuse normalised by some men. Prevalence studies for England and Wales suggests that approximately 15% of girls/young women and 5% boys/young men are subjected to some form of sexual abuse before they are 16 years old and that the majority of perpetrators – prevalence studies always indicate over 90% – are male.[1] For women and girls, single sex space to address what has been done to them is vital. For males, who are far more likely to have been abused by someone of the same sex, the preferred or most beneficial sex of their therapist, counsellor, support worker or fellow therapeutic group members can be less clear. Sometimes but not always depending on the sex of their abuser, they may or may not have a preference for or therapeutic issues with the sex of who supports them.[2] The needs of these men should be addressed but this necessary provision should not affect the needs of the majority of female victim-survivors and provision of single sex services to meet their needs; neither should the support and therapeutic needs of males survivors of childhood sexual violence and abuse who come to identify as transgender.

It should not be seen as, and it is not, an indication of disrespect to Andrea Waddel, Destiny Lauren, Sonia Burgess, Suzie Morl, Chrissie Azzopardi, Vanessa Santilan, William Lound, Naomi Hersi and Amy Griffiths to say that with regards to intimate partner homicide, the pattern of their relationships with the person who killed them is far closer to that of male-on-male fatal violence than that of men’s lethal violence against women. Of course what was done to them is abhorrent. But, the evidence suggests that the same services as those under short supply for women would not have saved the lives of most of these trans people.

By identifying the context of the sex industry, which inherently abusive; or substance use, I am not excusing what was done to these people any more than I would consider involvement in prostitution or drug use as an excuse for killing women, or any more than I would hold any woman responsible for abuse perpetrated against her. Prostitution turns people into products and abusive, predatory men who fully recognise the power imbalance in the transaction, into consumers. Prostitution puts people, mainly women, in situations where they are easy prey to murderous men. It is the twisted logic of sex trade advocates that creates a space for victim blaming and denies that prostitution is abuse.

Where fatal violence is concerned, the evidence is that the violence perpetrated against trans people, is not the same violence as that which is perpetrated against women. It’s not the same, it might be proportionate, there aren’t reliable statistics on the number of trans identifying people in the UK so we can’t calculate. Of course not all violence and abuse is fatal, but we can still learn a lot about violence from that which is. It is possible that rates of fatal violence against trans people by men are higher than those of males against women if we take population sizes into account, but this would make that violence more in line with men’s violence against other men, after all men kill more men every year than they kill women. This does not justify removing the single sex exemptions permissible under the Equality Act in the provision of services for women who have been subjected to men’s violence and more than any other form of men’s violence against other men.

Like most people, I do not want to see trans people suffering violence, harassment and discrimination. Universal human rights are an important principle. If we want to stop violence, including fatal violence against trans people, we would be better placed addressing the drivers of violence and abuse of people who do not conform to the gender stereotypes associated with their sex. As a feminist, I would say that we would be better placed dismantling sex-role or gendered stereotypes. Being abused and/or killed as or because you are a gender non-conforming man is not the same as being abused and/or killed as or because you are a women. We help no one if we don’t acknowledge who is doing what to whom and why, or by falsely claiming that that violence against trans people is the same as men’s violence against women.

Coronavirus Doesn’t Cause Men’s Violence Against Women

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I’ve been tracking men’s fatal violence against women and commemorating the UK women killed by men for 9 ½ years through my work on Counting Dead Women and for The Femicide Census, the team I work with have submitted Freedom of Information Requests to the police about men’s fatal violence against women in the UK going back to 2009.  From the work of the Femicide Census, we know that over the last decade, on average a woman has been killed by a man in the UK every 3 days. So, using the average over the last 10 years, we might expect to see 7 women killed by men in 21 days, but 14 women and two children have been killed by men in the first three weeks of coronavirus lockdown in the UK.

We have to be cautious about talking about increases in men killing women. Reality is more complex than 11-year averages, there are always times when the numbers are higher or times when they are lower, there might be a week or longer where no man kills a woman. But we can say that the number of women killed by men in the three weeks between 23 March and 12 April is the highest it has been for at least 11 years and is double that of a hypothetical average 21 days over the last 10 years. We don’t know yet whether this inflated rate will continue, it is possible that we will see a lower rate over the next few weeks.

The table below shows the actual numbers of women killed by men in the three weeks between 23 March and 12 April since 2009, and the relationship between the perpetrator and the woman he killed. [i]

Women killed by men 2009-2019 and alleged killings of women by men in 2020

If the two children killed by Robert Needham were included, we’d see 3 females killed by their fathers in 2020 and a total of 16 women and girls dead at the hands of a man.[ii]

We can see that over the same three-week period, annually the numbers of women killed by men ranged from 2 women (in 2013, 2018 and 2019) and was as high as 11 women in 2009, averaging at 5 women in this three week period between 2009 and 2019; but that in 2020, at least 14 women and two children have been killed. The reality may even be higher,for example, a man has been questioned regarding the killing of Natasha Melendez in N. Ireland on 1st April but as far as I know, no-one’s been charged yet, so I haven’t included her in the figures.

Looking back over pre-lockdown 2020, 32 days passed as 14 women’s lives were taken. [iii] So it isn’t that 2020 in general has seen higher levels of men’s fatal violence against women.

Lazy reporting mixed with a lack of understanding of the dynamics of abuse have led to stories about increases in the domestic abuse, with headlines about men’s fatal violence reported as being due to a man being pushed to kill because of financial concerns. Another report said that a man claimed he bludgeoned ‘his wife’ to death because she asked him to move out because he had the virus. I don’t believe coronavirus creates violent men.  What we’re seeing is a window into the levels of abuse that women live with all the time. Coronavirus may exacerbate triggers, though I might prefer to call them excuses, lockdown may restrict some women’s access to support or escape and it may even curtail measures some men take to keep their own violence under control. But coronavirus doesn’t make a killer out of a man who has never been controlling, abusive and/or violent to the woman he is in a relationship with. And we must surely extend our concerns to the women and children who will live through the coronavirus lockdown with an abuser and survive. I am counting dead women, but I would never say that it is only the dead women who count.

We need to ask why it seems that only or mainly men are pushed to kill because of frustrations or fears triggered by coronavirus or related restrictions. When we do, we come to the same answers that we’d arrive at by asking why men kill women at rates way above those at which women kill men: sex inequality as expressed through male control and dominance both in society as a whole and in individual relationships, men’s entitlement and their expectations to be served and serviced by women, masculine sex-stereotypes and gender norms, the objectification of women, and so on.

It’s also important to remember that men’s violence against women is not restricted to women that they are in a relationship with. Most people have no idea about the levels of child sex abuse that happens within families, we don’t know whether lockdown may be giving men increased or decreased opportunities to rape and sexually abuse the children in their household, but if it is the former, these children and society as a whole will be paying the price and seeing the impacts for decades.

Perhaps, despite the far greater numbers of people being killed by the virus including the failure to provide adequate protection to those exposed through efforts to treat the sick and dying, and the failure of the state to listen and act on the advice of experts, we will somehow see the extent of men’s violence against women and children more clearly. Perhaps also, we will say that this, men’s violence against women, girls and children, is not inevitable, it is not acceptable and the authorities, or someone – or we – can and should do more. Perhaps we will get angry that the state does not pay heed to the voices of experts and take the actions that feminists have been calling for, for decades.

If we’re alarmed at an apparent increase in men’s fatal violence against women, why aren’t we equally alarmed at the numbers of women being killed by men all the time? We surely cannot say that the average number of women killed by men is acceptable.  If 14 women and two children dead in 21 days at the hands of a man who chose not to curb his violence and aggression is too much, would seven dead women be fine?  No, no it wouldn’t. Let’s recognise the ways that women’s lives are limited, diminished and controlled by men’s dominance. Let’s demand better for women and children. Let’s aim to end men’s sex-based violence against women. Let’s hold the state to account. Let us recognise that together, taking responsibility, we could do more and we could make a difference.

[i]The data for 2009 – 2018 is from the Femicide Census, 2019 is from Counting Dead Women.  We collect data differently on the two projects, I do Counting Dead Women from internet searches (and people contacting my twitter account for the project) but the Femicide Census data is collected via annual FOI requests to all the UK police services. We haven’t completed the FOIs for 2019 yet so it’s possible that there are more women in the equivalent period in 2019 that I didn’t find with my internet searches.

[ii]

 NameAgeDate of death (2020)
1Nageeba Alariqy4723-Mar 
2Elsie Smith7125-Mar 
3Kelly Stewart4126-Mar 
4Ruth Williams6727-Mar 
5Victoria Woodhall3129-Mar 
6Kelly Fitzgibbons4029-Mar 
7Ava Needham429-Mar 
8Lexi Needham229-Mar 
9Caroline Walker5029-Mar 
10Katie Walker2429-Mar 
11Zobaidah Salangy2829-Mar 
12Betty Dobbin8230-Mar 
13Sonia Calvi5601-Apr 
14Maryan Ismail5706-Apr 
15Daneilla Espirito Santo2308-Apr 
16Ruth Brown5211-Apr 

[iii] Counting Dead Women 2020 (15 Feb -19 March)

2020

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At least 110 UK women have been killed by men (or where a man is the principal suspect) so far in 2020:

  1. 1 January 2020: Helen Almay, 39, was stabbed to death along with her partner. Helen’s estranged husband, Rhys Hancock, 39, has been charged with their murders.
  2. 1 January 2020: Magdalena Pacault, 46, was  strangled and beaten to death in her home in Liverpool.  Her partner, Piotr Cichy, 48, has been charged with her murder.
  3. 3 January 2020: Katherine Bevan, 53, was found dead in an animal pen on at farm in Devon where she volunteered. Luigi Palmas, 26, was charged with her murder and a further count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on 20th January.
  4. 16 January 2020: Claire Nash, 33, died in Newmarket, Suffolk. She had been strangled and stabbed 10 times. Charles Jessop, 33, has been charged with her murder.
  5. 16 January 2020: Kelly Price, 39 was found dead at her home in Gillingham, Kent. Her partner, Benjamin Bowler, 40, had strangled her to death.
  6. 20 February 2020: Tahereh Pirali-Dashti, 40, died in hospital after police had been called to A406, in London to attend to reports of an altercation between the occupants of two vehicles. Robert Barrow 54, was charged with her murder on 17 April and also with assault of a 56-year-old man.
  7. 22 January 2020: Beverley Denahy, 61, was found with serious head injuries in her home in N.E. London  after her husband called the police concerned for her welfare. Their 24-year-old son, Mitchell Denahy, has been charged in relation to her death.
  8. 23 January 2020: Gian Kaur Bhandal, 83, wasfound dead at home in Stourbridge by paramedics, after her son called an ambulance. She  she had suffered a fractured sternum, a broken arm and several broken ribs. Her husband, Pargan Singh Bhandal, 83,has been charged with her murder.
  9. 24 January  2020: Margaret Grant, 79, died in hospital after being assaulted in her home in Edinburgh. Police are looking for a white male.
  10. 1 February 2020: Kymberli Sweeney, 27, was found dead by ambulance crew in Paisley . Shaun Wilson, 27, has been charged in relation to her death.
  11. 9 February 2020: Mary Haley, 75, was found dead in her home in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. Her son Craig Haley, 35, has been charged in relation to her death.
  12. 15 February 2020: Cherith Van Der Ploeg, 60, was found dead in her home in Norwich. Her estranged husband Cornelius Van Der Ploeg, 63, has been charged with her murder.
  13. 15 February 2020: Ann Mowbray, 80, was found dead with multiple stab injuries at home in Studley, Warwickshire. Her husband Ronald Mowbray, 82, has been charged with her murder.
  14. 22 February 2020: Debbie Zurick, 56, was shot dead by her husband John Zurick, 67; he later died of self inflicted injuries.
  15. 25 February 2020: Jasbir Kaur, 54, and her husband were found dead at home. Her son, Anmol Chana, 25, had been charged in relation to their deaths.
  16. 25 Febrary 2020: Li Qing Wang, 35, was found stabbed to death in Leyton, East London. Yixing Song, 54, has been charged with her murder.
  17. 26 February 2020: Janice Woolford, 68, was stabbed to death in a home in Sunderland. Police believe she was killed by her son, Michael Woolford, 44, who is thought to have killed himself.
  18. 2 March 2020: Bhavini Pravin, 21, was stabbed and found seriously injured at a property in Leicestershire, she was pronounced dead by ambulance staff.  Jigukumar Sorthi, 23, has been charged with her murder.
  19. 2 March 2020: Valerie Jozunas, 78, was found dead in a house in Safron Walsen, Essex when emergency services were called to attend to her welfare. Mark Jozunas, 49, has been charged with her murder. 
  20. 6 March 2020: Janice Child, 64, was found dead at a property in Liverpool. A post mortem found she died of severe blunt force injuries to the head. Her son, Robert Children, 37, has been charged with her murder.
  21. 13 March 2020: Vanita Nowell, 68, was found dead at home in London by emergency services. She had died of head injuries and respiratory failure. Her son, Andrew Sheperd, has been charged with her murder.
  22. 15 March 2020: Tracey Kidd, 57, was found dead with head injuries by police responding to a call about concern for her welfare at a property in London. Paul Vissers, 40, has been charged with her murder.
  23. 16 March 2020: Nelly Mustafa, 43, and her neighbour Zahida Bi, 52, were stabbed to death in Birmingham. Tamer Mustafa, 40, Nelly’s husband, has been charged with their murders.
  24. 16 March 2020: Zahida Bi, 52, was stabbed to death along with her neighbour, Nelly Mustafa, 43.  The husband of her neighbour, Tamer Mustafa, 40, has been charged with their murders.
  25. 17 March 202: Josephine Kaye, 88, died in hospital, 19 days after being pushed to the ground in her home in Staffordshire, by a man posing a gas engineer.
  26. 19 March 2020: Shadika Mohsin Patel, 40, was found with stabbing injuries in the street in East London and later died in hospital. So far, three men have been arrested in relation to her death.
  27. 19 March 2020: Maureen Kidd, 74, was stabbed and suffered blunt force trauma to the head by means unknown and was found dead in a property in Kirkaldy, Scotland. Her son, Trevor Kidd, 41, was charged in relation to her death and later aquitted on mental health grounds..
  28. 22 March 2020: Wendy Morse, 71, was found dead at her home in Staffordshire. Kenneth Andrew McDermid, 42, was extradited from Sweden where he had been detained in custody, and has been charged with her murder.
  29. 23 March 2020: Nageeba Alariqy, 47, was found dead at home in Birmingham, the cause of her death has been given at pressure to the neck. Abeen Thabet, 49, has been charged with her murder.
  30. 25 March 2020: Elsie Smith,71, was found dead at home with stab wounds to her head and neck. [police believe she was lkilled by her husband Alan Smith, 71, before he killed himself.
  31. 26 March 2020: Kelly Stewart, 41, died of impact injuries to her head. She was found dead in a churchyard, in Newham, E. London. Kieran Rifat, 21, has been charged wth her murder.
  32. 26 March 2020: Gwendoline Bound, 80, was shot dead by her son John Bound, 59, in their home in Carmarthenshire, Wales,
  33. 27 March 2020: Ruth Williams, 67, was found unconscious at home in Wales by the police. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. Anthony Williams, 69, her husband of 44 years, has been charged with her murder.
  34. 29 March 2020: Victoria Woodhall, 31, was stabbed to death. Her former husband, Craig Woodhall, 40, has been charged with her murder.
  35. 29 March 2020: Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, and her two daughters, Ava, 4 and Lexi, 2, were shot dead. It is believed that her husband, the children’s father Robert Needham, 42, killed them and the family dog before killing himself.
  36. 29 March 2020: Caroline Walker, 50, and her daughter, Katie Walker, 24, was stabbed to death by their husband/father Gary Waller, 57. Their bodies were discovered after a fire in which Gary Walker killed  himself.
  37. 29 March 2020: Katie Walker, 24, and her daughter, Caroline Walker, 50, was stabbed to death by their father/husband Gary Waller, 57. Their bodies were discovered after a fire in which Gary Walker killed  himself
  38. 29 March 2020: Zobaidah Salangy, 28, was last seen at home before, reportedly, going for a run. Her husband Nezam Salangy, 42, has been charged with her murder and Mohammed Ramin Salangy, 29, has been charged with assisting an offender.
  39. 30 March 2020: Betty Dobbin, 82, was discovered dead at home by police in Belfast. Her grandson, Alan Gingles, 32, who lived with her, has been charged with her murder.
  40. 1 April 2020: Sonia Calvi, 56, and a 59-year-old man were stabbed to death in London. Daniel Briceno-Garcia, 44, has been charged with their murders.
  41. 1 April 2022: Natasha Melendez, 32, died of injuries inflicted in an assault on 22 March. In January 2022, John Scott, 33, was charged with her murder. He had previously been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on with intent on her in February 2020 and causing her actual bodily harm in December 2019 and February 2020.
  42. 8 April 2020: Marian Ismail, 57, Police attending a call of concern about a woman’s welfare in Edmonton, London, found Marian Ismail, with serious injuries. Attending ambulance services pronounced her dead. Her husband, Hussain Yusuf Egal, 65, has been charged with her murder.
  43. 8 April 2020: Daneilla Espirito Santo, 23, was found dead in her flat in Grantham. Julio Jesus, 30, has been charged with manslaughter and ABH.
  44. 11 April 2020: Ruth Brown, 52, was found dead in a house in Bognor Regis. Wayne Morris, 47, has been charged with her murder.
  45. 16 April 2020: Denise Keane-Barnett-Simmon, 36, died in hospital after a fire at her home. Damion Simmons, 44, has been charged with murder, arson with intent to endanger life, criminal damage, disclosing private & sexual photographs with intent to cause distress, and voyeurism.
  46. 18 April 2020: Jadwiga Szczygielsk, 77,  was found dead in her home in Edinburgh. A 44-year-old man has been charged with her murder.
  47. 22 April 2020: Emma McParland, 39, was stabbed to death in Belfast. Her son, Jordan Kennedy, 21, has been charged with her murder.
  48. 30 April 2020: Louise Aitchison, 33, was found dead by paramedics in her home in East Kilbride, Scotland. A 35-year-old man has been charged with her murder.
  49. 3 May 2020: Silke Hartshorne-Jones, 41, was shot dead at her home in Suffolk. Her husband, Peter Hartshorne-Jones, 51, has been charged with her murder.
  50. 7 May 2020: Hyacinth Morris, 67, was found dead in her home in Manchester. Leroy Planton, 41, said to live at the same address was located after a police search and has been detained under the mental health act.
  51. 8 May 2020: Louise Smith, 16,  was last seen alive. Her body was found in woodland in Hampshire on 21 May. Shane lee Mays, 29, was charged with her murder on 28 May.
  52. 10 May 2020: Claire Parry, 41, died in hospital of a brain injury caused by strangulation the day after being found in a car park. Timothy Brehmer, 41, with whom she had reportedly been in a relationship  for 10 years, has been charged with her murder.
  53. 17 May 2020: Aya Hachem, 19, died shortly after she was shot from a car window in Blackburn, Lancashire. Police are seeking occupants of a light-coloured, possibly metallic green, Toyota Avensis, which was seen leaving the scene of the shooting.
  54. 20 May 2020: Melissa Belshaw, 32, was stabbed to death at her home in Wigan. Andrew Wadsworth, 36, said to be her ex-partner. Has been charged with her murder.
  55. 25 May 2020: The body of Yvonne McCann, 46, was found in several parts in a park in Stockport, Greater Manchester. It is thought she had been killed between 22 and 25 May. Her husband, Thomas McCann, 48, has been charged with her murder.
  56. 29 May 2020: Lyndsey Alcock, 45, was found dead in a house in Liverpool. On 12 December 2020, Carl Alcock, 45, was charged with her murder.  A post mortem gave the cause of her death as  “mixed depressant drug toxicity with pneumonia”.
  57. 1 June 2020: Aneta Zdun, 40 and her daughter Nikiletta Zdun, 18, were killed at their home in Wiltshire. It has been reported that their throats were slit. Marcin Zdun, 39, their husband/father has been charged with their murders.
  58. 1 June 2020: Nikiletta Zdun, 18,  and her mother Aneta Zdun, 40 , were killed at their home in Wiltshire. It has been reported that their throats were slit. Marcin Zdun, 39, their father/husband has been charged with their murders.
  59. 3 June 2020: Mandy Houghton, 58, was found dead and with head injuries in her home in Lancashre. Alan Fare, 72, has been charged with her murder.
  60. 5 June 2020: Amy-Leanne Stringfellow, 26, was found fatally injured at home in Doncaster, S.Yorkshire. Terence Papworth, 45, has been charged with her murder.
  61. 7 June 2020: Bibaa Henry, 46, and her sister Nicole Smallman, 27, had celebrated Bibaa’s 46th birthday in a park in London, with friends on 5 June. Two days later their bodies were found, they had been stabbed to death. Danyal Hussein, 18, was charged with their murders in July.
  62. 7 June 2020: Nicole Smallman, 27, and her sister Bibaa Henry, 46, had celebrated Bibaa’s 46th birthday in a park in London, with friends on 5 June. Two days later their bodies were found, they had been stabbed to death. Danyal Hussein, 18, was charged with their murders in July.
  63. 16 June 2020: Dawn Bennet, 59,  died in hospital on her birthday after being stabbed in her home in Lewisham on 10th June. Her son, Jamal Sealy, 31, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and has been detained in a secure hospital.  
  64. 19 June 2020: Gemma Marjoram, 38, (also known as Gemma Cowey) was stabbed to death in the grounds of a derelicy hospital in Norwich. Her husband Michael Cowey, 48, has been charged with her murder.
  65. 25 June 2020: Karolina Zinkeviciene, 30, was found dead at her home in Spalding. Police believe she was killed by Breshnev Ruiters, 34, who also killed himself.
  66. 25 June 2020: Rosemary Hill, 87, died in hospital, 4 days after being assaulted. Guy Unmack, 45, has been charged in relation to her death and detained under the Mental Health Act.
  67. 5 July 2020: Jackie Hoadley, 58, was found dead in her home in Eastbourne, Sussex. Her husband Raymond Hoadley, 62, who had been living apart from her for 6 months has been charged with her murder.
  68. 6 July 2020: Khloemae Loy, 23, was stabbed in the neck in a hotel in Greenwich, London. Taye Francis, 39, has been charged with her murder.
  69. 12 July 2020: Kerry Woolley, 38, was found dead in her home in Solihull with fatal neck injuries. Ian Bennett, 37, has been charged with her murder.
  70. 15 July 2020: Shelly Clark, 43, died in hospital, as day after being found critically injured. Trevor Green, 44, was charged with her murder and found dead in prison a week later.
  71. 21 July 2020: Bernadette Walker, 17, was reported missing by her parents, 3 days after last ben seen alive. A ‘no body’ murder investigation was launched in September. Her father, Scott Walker, 50, has been charged with her murder.
  72. 24 July 2020: Stella Frew, 38, died after being struck by a van. Police said that they believed she had been involved in a dispute with its driver and that she may have been hit deliberately. James Martin, 26, has been charged with manslaughter.
  73. 25 July 2020: Dawn Fletcher, 32, died when she was hit by a van in Selston, Nottinghamshire. Ashley Tinklin, 37, was charged with murder but admitted manslaughter after driving his van at and over her.
  74. 1 August 2020: Deborah Jones, 48, also known as Deborah Hendrick, was pronounced dead in a car park in Nottingham. Gary Parnell, 59, has been charged with murder.
  75. 2 August 2020: Patrycja Wyrebek, 20, was found dead in her home in Newry, N.Ireland. Her partner, Dawid Mietus, 23, has been charged with her murder.
  76. 6 August 2020: Therasia Gordon, 44, was found dead in woodland in Edmonton, N. London.  Brian Sengendo, 25, was charged with murder, attempted murder, making threats to kill, and two counts of possession of an offensive weapon.
  77. 8 August 2020: Esther Egbon, 30, was found dead with a throat wound. Her estranged husband, Igie Erabor, has been charged with her murder.
  78. 8 August 2020: Katie Simpson, 21, died in hospital, 6 days after being found hanging. Jonathan Creswell, 33, her sister’s partner, was charged with her murder in March 2021, after allegedly trying to make her death look like suicide.
  79. 16 August 2020: Susan Baird, 60 was found dead in a property in South Belfast. Her husband Gary Baird, 61,was charged in January 2021 and detained under a Mental Health Order.
  80. 24 August 2020: Balvinder Gahir. 54, was found dead at her home with a serious head injury. Her ex-husband, Jasbinder Gahir, 57, and son, Rohan Gahir, 23, have been charged with her murder.
  81. 26 August 2020: Lynda Cooper, 72, was found dead in her home IN Stockport. She had been strangled. It is believed she was killed by her husband Denis Cooper, 69, before he hanged himself.
  82. 1 September 2020: Lorraine Cox, 32, was last seen alive in Exeter.  Her body was found four weeks later. Azum Maangori, 23, also known as Christopher Mayer, 23, has been charged with murder and preventing a lawful burial.
  83. 8 September 2020: Susan Winnister 66, was found dead at home in London with severe head and neck injuries. Her husband Leslie Winnister, 68, has been charged with her murder.
  84. 8 September 2020: Maria Howarth, 44, died in hospital in Sheffield two days after she was assaulted. David Bestwick had initially been charged with attempted murder, this became a murder charge upon her death.
  85. 24 September 2020: Abida Karim, 39, was found dead at home in Leeds. Her husband Sajid Pervez, 37, has been charged with her murder.
  86. 1 October 2020: Saman Mir Sacharvi, 49, and her daughter Vian Mangrio, 14, were found dead in the fire damaged home near Burnley. Saman Mir Sacharvi, had been assaulted and died from pressure to her neck. Shabaz Khan, 51, has been charged with rape, two counts of murder and one count of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered.
  87. 1 October 2020: Vian Mangrio, 14, details above.
  88. 6 October 2020: Poorna Kaameshwari Sivaraj, 36, and her son Kailash Kuha Raj, 3, were found dead in their home in Brentford, West London. Poorna had been stabbed and Kailash had been strangled. They had been dead for over a week. Her husband Kuha Raj Sithamparanathan, 42, who is thought to be responsible for their murders, killed himself as police arrived.
  89. 16 October 2020: Louise Rump, 29, was found dead by firefighters who had been called to her flat due to an alarm sounding.  Habib Jackson, 31, and Christopher Hayward, 30, have been charged with her murder.
  90. 25 October 2020: Julie Williams, 58, was found dead in her home in Coventry. Anthony Russell, 38, has been charged with her murder, that of her son and the murder of Nicole McGregor, 31.
  91. 26 October 32020: Rhona Humphreys, 53, was stabbed to death and found with multiple wounds at her home in Cornwall. Her partner, Thomas Whitehorn, 74, has been charged with her murder.
  92. 29 October 2020: Nicole McGregor, was found dead in Leamington. Anthony Russell, 38, has been charged with her murder, and those of Julie Williams, 58, and her son David, 32.
  93. 29 October 2020: Angela Webber, 77, was found dead after been subjected to serious injuries, at her home in Somerset. Her husband, Hugh Webber, 77, has been charged with her murder.
  94. 29 October 2020: Carole Wright, 62, was found dead at a National Trust beauty spot in Oxfordshire. A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is currently in hospital.
  95. 30 October 2020: Sarah Smith, 39, was found dead by police at home in Greenwich, London. The cause of her death has been recorded as head injuries. Ricky Woodford. 41, said to be known to her, has been charged with her murder.
  96. 31 October 2020: Ildiko Bettison, 48, was, has found dead at home in Chessington, London. Her husband, Keith Bettison, 71, has been charged with her murder.
  97. 12 November 2020: Marie Gladders, 51, was stabbed to death in Birmingham. Mark Masefield, 52, was charged with her murder.
  98. 13 November 2020: Kimberly Deakin, 29, was stabbed to death in the street in Stoke-on-Trent whilst she held her 4-month old baby in her arms. Lewis Crofts, 39, has been charged with her murder.
  99. 16 November 2020: Paula Leather, 56, was stabbed to death at home in Merseyside. She was stabbed multiple times in the head and face.  Her husband George leather, 60, has been charged with her murder.
  100. 15 November 2020: Caroline Kayll, 47, died in hospital after being attacked in Linton, Northumberland. Paul Robson, 49, has been charged with her murder and the attempted murder of a 15-year old boy. 
  101. 20 November 2020: Lauren Mae Bloomer, 25, was stabbed and then repeatedly run over and then dumped on a doorstep in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Jake Notman, 27, has been charged with her murder.
  102. 25 November 2020: Hansa Patel, 62, died shortly after being found at her home in West London with severe head injuries. Her son, Shanil Patel, 31, has been charged in relation to her death.
  103. 1 December 2020: Helen Bannister, 48, died in hospital in Wales, 6 days after an assault for which Jonathan Campbell, 37, had been charged with grievous bodily harm. He has since been charged with her murder.
  104.  7 December 2020: Morag Carmichael, 66, was killed by her son, Neil Carmichael, 34. He stabbed her six times and struck her with ornaments, a baseball bat and a saucepan. He has been deemed not criminally responsible at the time due to a “drug induced” mental disorder and has been detained under a hospital order.
  105. 11 December 2020: Andreia Patricia Rodriguez Guilherme, 30, was stabbed to death in the home she shared with her partner David Xavier, 36.  He has been charged with her murder.
  106. 11 December 2020: Vera Croghan, 89, died following a fire in her home in Norfolk. Her grandson Chanatorn Croghan, 19, has admitted responsibility and has been charged with murder.  
  107. 18 December 2020: Marta Vento, 27, was bludgeoned to death whist working alone on a night-shift as a hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset. Stephen Cole, 32 walked into a police station, claiming responsibility for her death.  He has been detained in a secure hospital.
  108. 18 December 2020: Joanna Borucka, 41, was found dead in a suitcase in a hotel in West London. It has been reported that her boyfriend has gone missing.
  109. 27 December 2020: Azaria Williams, 26, was found dead by police attending reports of a disturbance in South London. Mark Alexander, 27, has been charged with murder.  
  110. 29 December 2020: Catherine Granger, 50, was discovered with fatal stab wounds at a flat in Canterbury. David Creed, 52, has been charged with her murder.

Waiting for further information regarding the deaths of  Tina Cartlidge, Amanda Sedgwick,  Michelle Morris, Kimberley Smith, Claire Anderson,  Louise Castrey, Kimberley Smith,, Sarah Louise Gibbons,  Sarah Fleming,  Adell Cowan, Linda O’Brien and a number of women who have not been named. 

Please let me know if you have information regarding the deaths of these or any other women/girls (aged 13 and over) where a man/men is/are the primary suspects in the UK or UK women killed abroad in 2020

Last updated 10 September 2021.

Comparing UK homicide perpetration and suspect rates for male, female and trans people April 2007 – March 2018

by

 

  1. Women[i]

Total number of female homicide victims aged 16 years and over = 1,816

Total number of female homicide suspects = 445

There are 75% fewer female homicide suspects than there are victims.

 

  1. Men*[ii]

Total number of male homicide victims aged 16 years and over = 4,288

Total number of male homicide suspects = 4,696

There are 10% more male homicide suspects than there are victims.

 

  1. Trans people (all male)[iii]

Total number of male homicide victims aged 16 years and over = 8

Total number of male homicide suspects = 12

There are 50% more trans-identified male homicide suspects than there are victims.

 

Updated 21 November 2019 to include deaths in 2019

Trans people (all male)[iii]

Total number of male homicide victims aged 16 years and over = 8

Total number of male homicide suspects = 13

There are 62.5% more trans-identified male homicide suspects than there are victims.

 

N.B. As far as I know, the ONS don’t state whether or not they include data from trans perpetrators and suspects by their sex or (assumed) trans gender identity, therefore trans victims and murders are also included in the data for women and/or men.

[i] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/appendixtableshomicideinenglandandwales

[ii] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/appendixtableshomicideinenglandandwales

[iii] http://transcrimeuk.com/2017/11/16/trans-homicides-in-the-uk-a-closer-look-at-the-numbers/