Tag Archives: femicide

Remember her too

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The speech I gave at the femicide vigil at FiLiA 2021

In the first three days of 2012, 8 women in the UK were killed through men’s violence.  Three days, 8 dead women: 3 shot, 1 stabbed, 1 stabbed and beaten so hard with her own walking stick that the wood splintered, 1 beaten, 1 strangled, and 1 smothered.

Since then, I’ve been keeping a record of the women in the UK who have been killed through men’s violence and have personally recorded the names of 1,366 women killed by men or, in cases where criminal justice process hasn’t been concluded or has been prevented, for example if the killer also killed himself, where a man is or was the principal suspect. 

I don’t think there’s a person here who won’t know the name of Sarah Everard almost everyone here will also know the name of Sabina Nessa, both women killed this year and whose deaths made national headlines.

But between Sarah and Sabina at least 77 other women were killed in circumstances where a man is held as suspect, awaiting trial or would be if he were still alive.

Do you know the name of the 84-year-old woman who was allegedly strangled by a burglar? What about the 25-year-old woman who was found dead in bags with the body of her two-year-old daughter, the two-year-old daughter who is suspected to have been sexually assaulted –  as well as another child who survived – found buried in concrete beneath someone’s floor? The 82-year-old suspected to have been stabbed by her 84-year-old husband? Or the 29-year-old, found dead in the street with stab wounds to her neck, chest and arm, killed by her husband. At least 115 UK women are suspected to have been killed by men this year. The names of most of these women are not household names.

Men’s fatal violence against women cuts across all sections of society, across ages, class and ethnicity. But, some women are afforded more empathy than others. Some are more likely to be disbelieved, to be blamed, to be sent away without the help they need.

This appalling hierarchy of victims continues into death. It is almost always the young, conventionally attractive, middle-class, white woman killed by a stranger, the perfect victim, who makes the front pages.

Not the 50-year-old from a council estate in Leicestershire, killed by the father of her children after a 30-year marriage, where her life and dignity have been chipped away, little by little, every day. Not the immigrant. Not the 45year old homeless woman with a drug problem who was sexually abused from childhood to death. We need to end the hierarchy of dead women.

And of course, that hierarchy is there in life too. Black women and disabled women are disproportionately victimised yet more likely to receive a sub-standard response from state agencies. Poor women are more likely to be blamed.

Because of the Femicide Census, we know that in the UK 92% of women who are killed by men are killed by someone they know. One in 12 (or 8%) is a woman who is killed by her son. That’s the same proportion– 8% – of women in the UK who are killed by a stranger. 62% of women killed by men are killed by a current or former partner. More than 40% of these had already left or were taking steps to leave him. More than a third of these were killed in the first month post separation, almost ¾ within the first year.

Because of the Femicide Census we know that Sarah Everard was the 16th UK woman to be killed by a serving or former police officer since 2009.  

Femicide is the killing of women, girls and female infants and foetuses, predominantly but not always committed by men. Femicide maintains men’s individual and/or collective dominant status, or reflects the lower status of females. Femicide is not just homicide of women by men, it’s about how and why women are killed and how this is different to the circumstances in which men are killed.

Do I believe it is possible to end men’s violence against women, to end femicide? I don’t know. Do I believe it is likely? No. There just isn’t the will. Patriarchal societies, in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, authority, social privilege and control of resources, ensure that power stays with the powerful and advantaged; it’s the same with socio-economic class, it’s the same with race. Sure, there will continue to be steps to address men’s violence against women and girls. And mostly these will have originated from feminists but what is implemented by the state will always be a watered-down version.

Men’s violence against women and girls is both a cause and consequence of sex inequality. Whilst perpetrators must be held responsible for their actions and behaviours; men’s violence against women is not reducible simply to individual acts perpetrated by individual men. Men’s violence against women is a key instrument of men’s domination of women, supported and normalised by patriarchal institutions, attitudes and social norms and values.

What can you do? Make politicians know you care. Make politicians know that men’s violence against women is an issue that could lose them votes. Make sure that every woman counts. Make them know that they damn well better be able to say that only women have a cervix.

Know their names. Not just Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa. But Mandeep Singh, Angela Tarver, Valerie Richardson, Mihrican Mustapha, Sammy-Lee Lodwig, Denise Keene-Simmons.

Thank you, Keira Cadwell, for creating this beautiful commemoration to women. Each heart carrying the name of a woman killed by a man, taken from my work at Counting Dead Women.

Thank you, Keira Cadwell, for creating this beautiful commemoration to women. Each heart carrying the name of a woman killed by a man, taken from my work at Counting Dead Women.

2021

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2021

At least 144 UK women were killed by men (or where a man was the principal suspect) in 2021:

  1. 3 January 2021: Amani Iqbal, 27, was found dead in her home in Walthamstow, London. A coroner’s court has been told that it is believed she was killed by her boyfriend Jay Dawes, 28, before he killed himself. Dawes texted his drug dealer saying he’d ‘got rid of her’. Amani had last been seen alive on 31 December 2020.
  2. 4 January 2021: Eileen Dean, 93, was found badly injured on her bed in a care home in South London. She had suffered injuries to her head and neck, some of which, it is reported, were inflicted with her walking stick. Fellow care home resident Alexander Rawson, 62, was found responsible after a trial of facts as he was deemed unfit to stand trial.  
  3. 7 January 2021: Sue Addis, 69, died after being stabbed in her home near Brighton. Her 17-year-old grandson, Pietro Addis has been charged with her murder.  
  4. 11 January 2021: Carol Hart, 77, was found dead in a house in Devon. She was killed by a ‘carer’  Michael Robinson, 35, after she discovered that her had used her bank card to withdraw £5,650 from her account.  He attacked her in her bed, punched and kicked her in the face and strangled her.  
  5. 17 January 2021: Jacqueline Price, who was in her late 50s, was found unconscious and later died at her home in Andreas, on the Isle of Man Her son, James Price, 21, has been charged with her murder and the attempted murder of his father, her husband.  
  6. 17 January 2021: Mary Wells, 21, was stabbed to death in Colchester, Essex. Adam Butt, 21, has admitted killing her and is due to stand trial.  
  7. 24 January 2021: Tiparat Argatu, 43, was found dead with head and neck injuries in a property in Whitechapel, London by police responding to calls of concern for her welfare. David Cheres, 19, has been charged with her murder.  
  8. 27 January 2021: Christie Frewin, 25, was found with fatal injuries at her home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.  Her ex-partner Alex Staines, 30, stabbed her at least 17 times, and  has admitted to her murder.  
  9. 28 January 2021: Souad Bellaha, 62, was found dead in a house in Maidstone, Kent.  Abdelaziz El Msseyah, 57, has been charged with her murder.  
  10. 29 January 2021: Ann Turner, 82, was found dead in her home in Herefordshire. A 56-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of murder, has been detained under the Mental Health Act. The police are not looking for anyone else in connection to the incident.   
  11. 29 January 2021: N’Taya Elliott-Cleverley, 20, was found dead in a property in Liverpool. 19-year-old Mohammed Diakite, also known as Nigel Diakite, has been charged with her murder.  
  12. 29 January 2021: Rose Marie Tinton, 77, known as Marie, was found dead at her home in Southport who were following enquiries after a man was hit by a train some hours earlier. He was her son, Andrew Tinton, 54. And has now been charged with her murder.  
  13. 31 January 2021: Ranjit Gill, 43, was found dead at home in Milton Keynes, she had been stabbed 18 times by her husband Anil Gill, 46.
  14. 1 February 2021: Helen Joy, 54, was found dead in Wirral, she died of multiple injuries with terminal hypothermia. She had been killed by her partner Kevin Ashton, 45.  
  15. 4 February 2021: Emma Robertson, 39, was stabbed to death, shortly before her daughter Nicole Anderson, 24, was also killed. Her estranged husband, Steven Robertson, 40, is thought to have killed them both before killing himself.  
  16. 4 February 2021: Nicole Anderson, 24, was stabbed to death, shortly after her mother, Emma Robertson, 29, had also been killed. Steven Robertson, 40, her mother’s estranged husband, is thought to have killed them both before killing himself.  
  17. 6 February 2021: Linda Maggs, 74, was found unresponsive and declared dead by ambulance staff in Pontypool. Her husband, David Maggs, 70, has been charged with her murder.  
  18. 6 February 2021: Carol Smith, 75, was found dead by police who had been called to a home in Bexhill, Sussex. She had been shot.  A 78-year-old man who was found with a serious injury, remains arrested on suspicion of murder.    
  19. 7 February 2021: Sophie Moss, 33, was found in a critical condition but pronounced dead shortly later, in a house in Darlington, County Durham. Sam Pybus, 31, strangled her to death during sex.  
  20. 11 February 2021: Christina Rowe, 28, was found dead in the River Severn in Worcester. Charles Byrne, 24, has been charged with her murder and the attempted murder of another person.  
  21. 11 February 2021: Susan Hannaby, 69, was found dead by emergency services attending a house fire in Wrexham, Wales.  Her grandson, Kyle Ellis, 25, has been charged with her murder.  
  22. 13 February 2021: Michelle Lizanec, 44, was found dead by police, in a house in Dundee after what has been described as a day-long stand-off. Her husband John Lizanec, 46, has been charged with murder.  
  23. 15 February 2021: Wieslawa Mierzejewska, 59, was found dead in a house in Cambridgeshire. She was killed and then dismembered by her son, Ernest Grusza, 40. He was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.  
  24. 16 February 2021: Christina Arnold, 71, was found dead at home in Pembrokeshire, Wales. She had been suffocated by her husband of 50-years, David Arnold, 81, before he killed himself.  
  25. 17 February 2021: Bennylyn Burke, 25, and her 2-year-old daughter Jellica, were last seen at their home in Gloucestershire. They were reported missing on 1 March, with her other child who has since been found alive.  Their bodies were found on 17 March, concealed in a house in Dundee. Andrew Innes, 50, has been charged with their murders.  
  26. 20 February 2021: Judith Rhead, 68,  was found dead in a property in Pembrokeshire, Wales. She had been dead since December 2020. Her son, Dale Morgan, 43, had carried out a ‘sustained and Brutal’ attack using a hammer and has been found guilty of her murder.   
  27. 22 February 2021: Anna Ovsyannikova, 48, was found dead in a house in Ealing, W. London. Curtis Brown, 48, has been charged with her murder.  
  28. February 2021: Tina Eyre, 62, is said to have been beaten to death with a shovel. She was from Gloucester but had retired to Bulgaria, where she was killed. Neighbours who were worried that they hadn’t seen her discovered her boyfriend Denislav Runevski, digging a grave. He has since admitted to police that he killed her.  
  29. 2 March 2020: Samantha Heap, 45, was found dead in a house in Congleton, Cheshire. Her neighbour David Mottram, 47, strangled her with a ligature, stabbed her and inflicted multiple blunt force injuries upon her.  
  30. 3 March 2021: Sarah Everard, 33, was abducted, raped and murdered by servicing police officer, Wayne Couzens, 48.  
  31. 4 March 2021: Geetika Goyal, 29, was found stabbed 19 times in the neck and chest, wrapped in plastic and dumped in a street in Leicestershire by her husband Kashish Aggarwal, 29.  
  32. 4 March 2021: Imogen Bohajczuk, 29, was found dead in a house in Oldham by police responding to a call of concern about her welfare. Her boyfriend Daniel Smith, 41, stabbed her multiple toes and write ‘It was me’ on her leg.  
  33. 5 March 2021: Wenjing Lin, 16, was strangled to death in Wales by Chun Xu, 31 in what was said to be an act of revenge against her mother for a gambling debt.  
  34. 19 March 2021: Karen McClean, 50, was stabbed to death in Newtownabbey, N. Ireland, identifying her son Ken Flanagan, 26, as the assailant as she was dying. Flanagan also killed his partner, Stacey Knell, 30.  
  35. 19 March 2021: Stacey Knell, 30, was stabbed to death by her partner Ken Flanagan, 26, in Newtownabbey, N. Ireland. Flanagan had also stabbed and killed his mother Karen McClean, 50.  
  36. 23 March 2021: Details withheld for legal reasons.
  37. 23 March 2021: Samantha (Sammy) Mills, 31, died in a house fire in Huddersfield, in which a man was also killed and 4 other people injured. Craig Collier, 34, has been charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
  38. 24 March 2021: Dyanne Mansfield, 71: Dyanne’s throat was slit by her husband, Graham Mansfield, 73. Originally charged with murder, he was found guilty of manslaughter after claiming he had killed her as an act of love. Three knives and a lump hammer were found near her body. Two notes were found near their bodies, neither had been written or signed by Dyanne.
  39. 25 March, 2021: Patricia Audsley, 66, was found dead in a house in Mirfield, W. Yorkshire. Nigel Audsley, 66, has been charged with her murder.   
  40. 26 March 2021: Phyllis Nelson, 76, was found dead in her home in East London. Donovan Miller, 30, reported to be hr grandson, has been charged with her murder.  
  41. 27 March 2021: Klaudia Soltys, 30, was killed by her housemate Amadeusz Sekula, 20, in Hull.  
  42. 29 March 2021: Simone Ambler, 49, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in a house in Blackpool. Donald Payne, 62, has been charged with her murder.  
  43. 1 April 2021: Emma McArthur, 49, died from her injuries after being found lying at a road junction near her home in Berkshire. She had been stabbed in the neck and chest by her former partner Christopher Minards, 35.  
  44. 1 April 2021: Sherrie Milnes, 51, was found dead in a house of Weymouth with multiple stab wounds and also having suffered compression to the neck. Steven Doughty, 54, is believed to have killed her before killing himself.  
  45. 4 April 2021: Constanta Bunea, 50, was found dead in the bathroom on a flat in Plumstead, S.E. London. Her husband Vasile Bratu, 39, stabbed her to death with scissors.  
  46. 6 April 2021: Jacqueline Grant, 54, was found dead in hr home in Glasgow with multiple knife wounds to her head and body. Michael Dorey, 46, has been charged with her murder.  
  47. 9 April 2021: Loretta Herman, 85, was found dead in the bathtub of her home in East London. She had been strangled by her son, Mark Herman, 54.  
  48. 10 April 2021: Sally Metcalf, 68, died of compression to her neck. Her husband, Jonathan Metcalf, 72, was found hanged. The police said Sally’s death was being treated as murder.  
  49. 13 April 2020: Sarah Keith, 26, was found dead in a flat in Leeds. After he had strangled and stabbed her, her partner Carl Chadwick 35, watched pornography and took cocaine.  
  50. 15 April 2021: Manisha Solanki, 49, was found dead in her home in Leicestershire. Her husband Kausok Solanki was charged with her murder in December 2021, when he had recovered sufficiently  to be charged after throwing himself off a cliff in Hunstanton.  
  51. 18 April 2021: Peggy Wright, 83, died after jumping out of a window to escape a fire started in an arson attack on her home in Birmingham. Mark O’Brien, 46, has been charged in relation to her death.  
  52.  23 April 2021: Charmaine O’Donnell, 25, died after being pulled from the water at Helensburgh Pier, Scotland. A 28-year-old man has been charged in relation to her death.  
  53. 23 April 2021: Michelle Cooper, 40, died in hospital due to head injuries, after being attacked in Jaywick, Essex. Jordan Stanley, 20, has been charged with her murder.  
  54. 25 April 2021: Kerry Bradford, 57, was found dead at home in Newport, Wales, by police investigating the death of her husband, Nicholas Bradford, 57. Police believe he killed her before killing himself.  
  55. 27 April 2021: Julia James, 53, was found dead with serious head injuries, in woodland in Kent, where she had taken her dog for a walk. On 10 May, Callum Wheeler, 21, was charged with her murder.  
  56. 30 April 2021; Beth Aspey, 34, was found dead by police at her home in Reading, she had suffered blunt force injury to her head. Her boyfriend Ben Shand, 45, has been charged with her murder.  
  57. 2 May 2021: Susan Booth, 62, was found with severe injuries outside a house in Oldham, Lancashire. Stephen Booth, 63, has been charged with her murder.  
  58. 3 May 2021: Maya Zulfiquar, 26, from London, was strangled and shot in Lahore, Pakistan. It is alleged that she had been threatened by men who wanted to marry her. No charges have yet been made.  
  59. 4 May 2021: Maria Rawlings, 45, was found dead and naked in bushes near Romford, Essex. She had head injuries, had been strangled and stabbed by Valentin Lazar, 20, as she travelled home from hospital.  
  60. 4 May 2021: Chenise Gregory, 29, from London, was found stabbed to death in a hotel in Harrogate, N. Yorkshire.  It is believed she was killed by her partner, Michael McGibbon, 29, before he killed himself.  
  61. 7 May 2021: Leah Ware disappeared from Hastings, Susses. Mark Brown was charged with the murder of another woman, Alexandra Morgan in November 2021; in February 2022, he was also charged with the murder of Leah.
  62. 9 May 2021: Agnes Akom, 20, also known as Dora, was last seen in Cricklewood, London. Neculai Paizan, 63, has been charged with her murder. Human remains, identified as those of Agnes, were found on 14 June.  
  63. 10 May 2021: Wendy Cole, 70, was stabbed to death in her home in Cambridgeshire. Her son, John Cole, 35, has been charged with her murder.  
  64. 11 May 2021: Caroline Crouch, 20, a British woman who lived in Athens, was strangled and tortured. Her husband Babis Anagnostopoulos, 33, claimed that three robbers had broken into their apartment and tied him up before killing her. On 17 June, he was questioned by police and confessed to her murder.  
  65. 12 May 2021: Svetlana Mihalachi, 53, died in hospital, five weeks after being attacked in a house in Ilford, London. Nicolae Virtosu, 47, had already been charged with attempted murder.  
  66. 12 May 2021: Nicola Kirk, 45, died in hospital in Dumfries, Scotland after allegedly being deliberately driven at. Ian Edwards, 35, has been charged with murder.  
  67. 13 May 2021: Maria Rafel Chavez, 32, was found dead in a home in Ilford, London. Her husband, Muhammad Ilyas, 40, has been charged with her murder.  
  68. 25 May 2021: Agita Geslere, 61, died in hospital after being found with multiple stab wounds in a house in Barnsley, S. Yorkshire. Her son Renars Geslers, 31, has been charged with her murder.
  69. 25 May 2021: Alison Stevenson, 62, was found dead at a house in Helston, Cornwall. Six months later, Cameron Dancey-Stevenson, 25, described as a close family member, was charged with her murder.  
  70. 26 May 2021: Lauren Wilson, 34, was stabbed to death in Renfrew, Scotland. Craig Walker, 39, has been charged with her murder.  
  71. 27 May 2021: Peninah Kabeba, known as Penny, 42, was found dead at home in South London, with multiple stab wounds. Mohsen Saadi, 56, has been charged with her murder.
  72. 29 May 2021: Jill Hickery was stabbed to death at home in Cornwall by her husband Donald Hickery, 84.  
  73. 31 May 2021: Bethany Vincent, 26, and her 9-year-old son, Darren, were stabbed to death at their home in Louth, Lincolnshire. Her ex-partner, Daniel Boulton, 29, has been charged with their murders.  
  74. 1 June 2021: Esther Brown, 67, was found dead in her flat in Glasgow. Jason Graham, 30, has been charged with her murder and rape.  
  75. 1 June 2021: Michaela Hall, 49, was found dead in a house in Truro, Cornwall. Lee Kendall, 42, has been charged with her murder.  
  76. 1 June 2021: Mildred Whitmore, 84, was found dead in her home in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Chase Kelly, 31, has been charged with her murder and burglary.  
  77. 2 June 2021: Stacey Clay, 39, died in hospital after being found seriously injured in her garden in Nottingham on 19 May. Matthew Farmer, 42, had been charged with attempted murder and police are not looking for anyone else.  
  78. 11 June 2021: Linda Hood, 68, was discovered dead at her home in Norfolk by fire crews. A post mortem found she had died before the fire from compression to the neck. Paul Kelly-Bridle, 58, has been charged with her murder.  
  79. 16 June 2021: Marlene Coleman, 53, was found with stab wounds by paramedics attending a house in S. London. She was declared dead on the scene. Franklin McLeod, 54, has been charged with her murder.  
  80. 18 June 2021: Sophie Cartlidge, 39, was found dead in a property in North Lincolnshire. Police said the no weapons had been used but that she had suffered significant injuries. Her partner Andrew Grimes, 37, has been charged with her murder and rape.  
  81. 18 June 2021: Gracie Spinks, 23, was killed in a paddock in Derbyshire as she tended her horse. Michael Sellars, 35, suspected of killing her was a former colleague who had been stalking her and against whom she had taken out a restraining order. He was found dead nearby.   
  82. 19 June 2021: Kim Dearden, 63, was discovered by police in a house in Hertfordshire but died of stab wounds shortly afterwards. Her son, Charles Dearden, 31, has been charged with her murder.  
  83. 19 June 2021: Michelle Hibbert, 29, and her husband were found dead in their home in Basingstoke. Stanley Elliot, 52, has been charged with their murders.  
  84. 22 June 2021: Sally Poynton, 44, was found dead from knife wounds in a house in Cornwall. Jacob Poynton-Whiting, 22, has been charged with her murder.  
  85. 23 June 2021: Catherine Wardleworth, who was in her 70s, was shot dead in Merseyside. Police believe she was killed by her husband Leslie Wardleworth, before he killed himself.  
  86. 29 June 2021: Sukhjit Badial, 73, and her husband, were found dead in their home in Warwickshire. She died from ‘a number of injuries’. Police believe he killed her before killing himself.  
  87. 3 July 2021: Elsie Pinder, 66, died after a house fire in Southend, Essex. Andrew Wilding, 41, has been charged with her murder and arson with intent to endanger life.  
  88. 4 July 2021: Catherine Stewart, 54, was found dead in her home in Airdrie, Scotland. Colin Kennedy, 60, has been charged with her murder.  
  89. 4 July 2021: Ishrat Ahmed, 52, was beaten to death and her husband was also seriously injured at their home in Lancashire. Mohammad Yaqub Malik, 58, has been charged with her murder.  
  90. 7 July 2021: Tamara Padi, 45, was stabbed multiple times in her home in Greater Manchester by her ex-partner. Aubrey Padi, 41.  
  91. Katie (Kathleen) Brankin, 37, was stabbed to death at a glamping site on the coast at Limavady, N. Ireland. Thomas Davidson, 53, was charged with her murder and later died in prison.
  92. 13 July 2021: Sandra Hughes, 63, died in a house fire in Gorton, Manchester. Mark See, 34, has been charged with her murder.  
  93. 23 July 2021: Beatrice Stoica, 36, was stabbed to death in S. London. Her ex-husband Stony Stoica, 44, has been charged with her murder.  
  94. 24 July 2021: Pat (Patricia) Holland, 83, was found dead at her home in Norfolk. Alan Scott, 41, who had been her lodger, has been charged with her murder.  
  95. 26 July 2021: Louise Kam, 71,  was last seen alive by a family member in Barnet, London. Her body was found on 1st August. Mohamed El Abboud (26) & Kusai Al Jundi (23) have been charged with her murder.  
  96. 31 July 2021: Yordanos Brhane, 19, was found with multiple stab wounds in a house in Birmingham.  Halefom Weldyohannes, 25, has been charged in relation to her death.  
  97.  31 July 2021: Amanda Selby, 15, from Greater Manchester was stabbed to death in a holiday park in Wales. Her brother, Matthew Selby, 19, has been charged with her murder.  
  98. 1 August 2021: Malgorzata Lechanska, 37, was found dead with a severe head injury at her home in Norfolk. Her husband Rafal Winiarski, 39, has been charged with her murder.  
  99. 7 August 2021: Megan Newborough, 23, is thought to have been killed before being found dead the following day in a country lane in Leicestershire.  Ross Macullam, 29, has been charged with rape and murder.  
  100. 9 August 2021: Diana Nichols, 57, was found dead in flat in Hawick, Scotland. A54-year-old man has been charged in relation to her death.
  101. 12 August 2021: Maxine Davison (Chapman), 51, was shot dead by her son, Jake Davison, 22, who killed four other people (Sophie Martyn, Kate Shepherd, Lee Martyn, Stephen Washington) in Plymouth, before killing himself.  
  102. 12 August 2021: Kate Shepherd, 66, was shot dead by Jake Davison, 22, in Plymouth. Davison killed four other people (his mother Maxine Davison/Chapman, Sophie Martyn, Lee Martyn, Stephen Washington) before killing himself.  
  103. 14 August 2021: Bella Nicandro, 76, was stabbed to death in her home in London. Aaron Cook, 23, has been charged with her murder.  
  104. 15 August 2021: Eileen Barrott, 50, was found seriously injured in her home in Leeds but died at the scene. Her husband, Mark Barrott, 54, has been charged with her murder.  
  105. 19 August 2021: Sharron Pickles, 45, was found dead with an incised wound to her throat in a home in North London. Lee Peacock, 49, has been charged with her murder and that of and Clinton Ashmore, 59.  
  106. 23 August 2021: Helen Anderson, 41, from London, was found dead in undergrown beside a slip road in Surrey. Dane Messam, 52, has been charged with her murder.  
  107. 26 August 2021: Jade Ward, 27, was found dead in a house in North Wales. Her ex-husband, Russell Marsh, 29, has been charged with her murder.  
  108. 27 August 2021: Maddie Durdant-Hollamby, 22, was stabbed to death in Kettering, Northamptonshire by her partner Ben Green, 41, who also killed himself. Whilst police were quick to state there was no evidence of a history of domestic abuse, friends have described Green as a misogynist who had sexual relationships with multiple women at the same time and showed them no respect.  
  109. 2 September 2021: Fawziyah Javed, 31, from West Yorkshire ‘fell’ to her death from Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh. Her husband Kashif Anwar, 27, has been charged with her murder.  
  110. 11 September 2021: Ingrid Matthew, 54, was found dead in a house in Leicester. Her son Aaron Matthew, 18, was charged with her murder.  
  111. 17 September 2021: An as yet unnamed woman was found dead in a house in Welwyn Garden City after the suicide of a man, her partner, in the town centre. Police are treating her death as murder.  
  112. 17 September 2021: Sabina Nessa, 28, was killed in Kidbrooke, south-east London. 10 days later, Koci Selamaj, 36, was charged with her murder.  
  113. 19 September 2021: Terri Harris, 35, was found dead in Derbyshire with her children John Paul Bennett, 13 and Lacey Bennett, 11 and a friend Connie Gent, 11. A man reported as her partner, Damien Bendall, 31, has been charged with their murders.  
  114. 19 September 2021: Sukhjeet Uppal, 40, was stabbed multiple times and died in her home in Wolverhampton. Jai Singh, 50, has been charged with her murder.  
  115. 20 September 2021: Norma Girolami, 70, was reported missing from her home in North London, she hadn’t been seen since mid-August. Serkan Kaygusuz, 41, has been charged with her murder. Her body still has not been found.  
  116.  2 October 2021: Jekouki Jaboa, 31, who lived in Telford, was stabbed to death in Albania. Her boyfriend, Kliton Pira, 26, is thought to have killed her before killing himself.  
  117. 9 October 2021: Nicole Hurley, 37, was stabbed to death in a flat in North London. Jason Bell, 40, who lived in the property, has been charged with her murder and false imprisonment.  
  118. 10 October 2021: Bonnie Harwood, 47, was stabbed to death at her home in Alton, Hampshire. Matthew Reynolds, 31, has been charged with her murder.  
  119. 12 October 2021: Katrina (Trina) Rainey, in her 50s, died with 95% burns after being trapped alive in a burning car, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Her husband, Thomas Rainey, has been charged with her murder.  
  120. 18 October 2021 Marta Chmielecka, 31, was stabbed in the neck and found dead in a house in Kettering.  Pawel Chmielecki, 38, has been charged with her murder.  
  121. 28 October 2021: Ruth Dent, 79, was found dead with knife injuries in Desford, Leicestershire. Her 69-year-old husband, Ian Dent, was also found dead. Police are not looking for anyone else.
  122.  28 October 2021: Josephine Smith, 88, died due to smoke inhalation following a fire at her home on East London. Kai Cooper, 18 and a 15-year-old boy who cannot be named due to his age, have been charged with manslaughter and arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered. It has been reported that a firework was found at the scene.
  123. 31 October 2021: Dawn Walker, 52, was found dead near Halifax, West Yorkshire. Her husband Thomas Nutt, 45, has been charged with her murder.  
  124. 5 November 2021: Yvonne Barr, 47, was taken to hospital by emergency services after calls reporting concern, in Dundee. Kenneth Melville, 58, has been charged with her murder.
  125. 7 November 2021: Sarah Ashwell, 47, was found dead at home in Wells, Somerset. Antanas Jankauskas, 38, has been charged with her murder.  
  126. 8 November 2021: Tamby Dowling, 36, was fatally stabbed in Oldham, Lancashire. A man is being detained under the Mental Health Act.  
  127. 9 November 2021: Pauline Quinn, 73, was found dead in Nottinghamshire. Lawrence Bierton, 61, has been charged with her murder and robbery.  
  128. 9 November 2021: Ilona Golabek, 27, was last seen alive. Kamil Ranoszek, 40, has been charged with her murder. Her body has not yet been found, police are focussing their search on Boston, Lincolnshire.  
  129. 20 November 2021: Tricia Livesey, 57, and her partner Antony Tipping, 60, were both found dead with multiple stab wounds in a house in Preston, Lancashire.  A 35-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder has now been detained under the Mental Health Act.
  130. 14 November 2021: Alexandra Morgan, 34, was last seen alive. Mark Brown, 40, has been charged with her murder. Alexandra’s car has been found but police are still searching for her body.
  131. 20 November 2021: Bobbi-Anne McLeod, 18, was reported missing after failing to arrive to meet friends in Plymouth. Her body was found on 23 Nov. Cody Ackland, 24, has been charged with her murder.
  132. 21 November 2021:Bori Benko, 24, was found dead in her flat in Bradford. She had been stabbed. Zbigniew Soj, 23, has been charged with her murder.
  133. 21 November: Jennifer Chapple, 33, and her husband Stephen, were stabbed to death in their home in Somerset. Their next-door neighbour, Collin Reeves, 34, has been charged with their murders.
  134. 21 November 2021: June Fox-Roberts, 65, was killed in her home in Wales. He injuries have been described as extreme. Luke Deeley, 25, has been charged with her murder.
  135. 25 November 2021: Malak Adabzadeh, 47, was found dead in a house in Liverpool. Her husband, Mohammad Ureza Azizi, 57, has been charged with her murder. The cause of her death has been confirmed as head trauma.
  136. 28 November 2021: A woman only so far identified as Fernanda, 31 and her 61-year old father were stabbed to death in Wood Green, North London. Achilleas Costa, 52, described as her boyfriend, has been charged with their murders.
  137. 28 November 2021: Amber Gibson,16, went missing after leaving home in Hamilton, Scotland on a Friday evening, her body was found two days later. Her brother, Connor Gibson,19, has been charged with sexual assault and murder.
  138. 17 December 2021: Lily Sullivan, 17, did not return home after a night out with friends. Her body was found dumped in Pembroke, Wales, the next day. Lewis Haines, 31, has been charged with her murder.
  139. 18 December 2021: Caoimhe Morgan, 30, was found dead and with serious injuries in a house in Belfast. Taylor McIlvenna, 30 has been charged with her murder.
  140. 18 December 2021: Julia Howse, 61, was stabbed to death in her home in Hertfordshire. Her son, Ashley Howse, 35, has been charged with her murder.
  141. 21 December 2021: Beverley Taylor, 66, and her husband John, were killed in the home in Skipton, N. Yorkshire. Their son, David Michael Taylor, 35, has been charged with their murders.
  142. 26 December 2021: Mary Fell, 73, and her husband Denis, were found dead in their home in Livingstone, Scotland. Their grandson, Tobyn Salvatore also known as Jay Fell, 19, has been charged in relation to their deaths.
  143. 26 December 2021: Kirsty Ashley, 29, originally from Scunthorpe, was found dead in a house in Newham, East London. The cause of her death has been given as blunt force trauma. Yahya Aboukar, 26, said to be known to Kirsty, has been charged with her murder.
  144. 29 December 2021: Lucy Clews, 39, was stabbed to death in Staffordshire. Thomas Brant, 26, was charged with her murder in May 2022.

Also remembering

Brenda Venables: 16 June 2021 39 years after 48-year-old Brenda Venables ‘disappeared’, her husband of that time, David Venables, now aged 88, was charged with her murder. In July 2019, her remains were found in a sceptic tank at the home they had shared in Worcestershire.

Arlene Arkinson, 15. Arlene ‘disappeared’ in N. Ireland in 1994, in July 2021 an inquest found that  she was murdered by convicted child killer and rapist Robert Howard.

Shani Warren, 26, was found dead, gagged and bound in Taplow Lake Buckinghamshire, in April 1987. In November 2021, Donald Slough, Berkshire, was charged with her murder and also the kidnap and rape of a 16-year-old girl in 1981.

Waiting for further information regarding the deaths of   Unnamed woman, Doncaster, Unnamed woman, Wolverhampton,  A woman found dead in Leicester, Jackie Murphy, Leicester, Tracey McGrath, Liverpool,  Diane Mitchell, Gloucester ,Woman, 89, Bexleyheath, Susan Denyer, Emma Cooper, unnamed woman, Nuneaton, Joanne Baird, Sarah Hussein, Bury, Woman, Southall Park , Jomaa Jerrare,  Unnamed woman, Polperro, Charlotte Ford, Offerton, Sophie Leigh,

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 2021

Last updated 5 February 2022

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)

1,000 dead women

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In memory of Kirsty Treloar

New Year’s Day 2019 and before dawn on the first morning of the New Year a woman in her early thirties, whose name has not yet been made public, was stabbed to death in Camberwell, South London. She will be the 1,000th woman killed by a man whose name I will record on my website Counting Dead Women.

7 years ago today, 20 year-old Kirsty Treloar received a text from Miles Williams, the 19 year-old father of her not-yet 4-week old baby. The text read

“Okay wer all gud now and my new yrs ressy is that i aint going to hit u again and i won’t hit u 4 this yr next yr the yr after that the next yr after that.”

And went on to say “But I wont u to swear on (their daughter’s) life u wont p.ss me off and do things to make me angry love you 4 eva.’

Kirsty was terrified of Miles and had been trying to extricate herself from their relationship; she told him that she didn’t want to see him. She’d spent Christmas at her family home in Hackney. The next day, Kirsty paid the price of lack of compliance.  Williams broke in to the house and dragged her in to a car, stabbing and wounding her sister and brother who were trying to protect her. She was later found dead, dumped beside bins some two miles away. She had been stabbed 29 times.

A few weeks before, Kirsty had been referred to nia, the charity where I work, which supports women and girls subjected to men’s violence. I was told of Kirsty’s death and looked on the internet to see if I could find out what had happened. But Kirsty wasn’t the only woman killed by a man at the start of the year, there were multiple reports of fatalities of women and so I made a note of their names because I wanted to know how many there were. It turned out that in the first three days of 2012, eight women in the UK had been killed by men : three shot, one stabbed, one strangled with a dog lead, strangled, one – a 77 year-old woman – beaten to death with her own walking stick, and an 87 year old woman battered to death with blunt force trauma by her own grandson.

Seven years and 1000 women later, I haven’t stopped recording the names of women killed by men. In reality, the number is even higher, every year there are a number of unsolved cases where women have been killed and statistically almost all of them will have been committed by men. There are cases where men appear to have played a direct role in the death of a woman but they manage to evade prosecution. I suspect there are women whose disappearance has gone unreported, or whose absence has gone unacknowledged and whose body will never be found.   There are women who die of secondary causes related to long histories of abuse by men and there are women who kill themselves because that is the only route they can see to end the pain of violence and abuse.

I continued because I cannot bring myself to say that the next woman killed isn’t important. I continue because a focus on intimate partner homicides at the exclusion of other killings disguises and diminishes the true rate of men’s fatal violence against women. I continue because the killing of women by their current and former partners is so normalised that it is not recognised as a national emergency. I continue because the need for  and benefits of specialist single-sex services for women victim-survivors of men’s violence are still subjected to challenge and given insufficient regard. I continue because I want someone to bear witness and commemorate our sisters. I continue because the slaying of women by men, although it has happened at least 1,000 times in seven years, continues to be described by the police and reported in the media as an ‘isolated incident.’ I continue because I believe the more we look, the more we can learn and the more effectively we can take steps to reduce men’s violence against women. I continue because I believe a different world is possible, but it is only by consciously committing to making changes that look at the multitude of factors that support and enable men’s violence against women, that will give us a hope in hell of getting there.

Writing women’s lived reality out of the narrative of their death

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8 Christina Randall

Hull City Council has recently published a Domestic Homicide Review[i] (DHR) into the murder of Christina Spillane, also known as Christina Randell. The conclusion in the  Executive Summary of the full report stated ‘Nothing has come to light during the review that would suggest that [Christina Spillane’s] death could have been predicted or prevented.’

On 5th December 2013, Christina Spillane had phoned the police and in the course of describing threatening and aggressive behaviour from Deland Allman, her partner of over 20 years, she told them that he was going to kill her. The claim that nothing suggested her murder could have been predicted is not just wrong, it is doing one of the things that DHRs are supposed to avoid: writing the voice of the victim out of her own narrative. Christina had herself predicted that Allman was going to kill her and she told this to the police the first time there was any recorded contact between  her and them. Also, women are more likely to underestimate the risk they face from a violent partner than overestimate it.  Her fears should not have been ignored whilst she was still alive, let alone after she had been killed.

The conclusion of the executive summary of the DHR, contrary to several examples given in the body of the report, states ‘There is nothing to indicate there were any barriers to reporting and advice and information was given to [Christina]  regarding services but these were not taken up.’ This belies any understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence and abuse. 1 in 4 women in England and Wales will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes and almost 1 in 10 will suffer domestic violence in any given year. Most women will never make any sort of formal report, to the police or any other service, statutory or otherwise, but most of them would be able to explain why they haven’t, exactly because of the multitude of barriers to doing so: shame, feeling it’s your own fault, not wanting to admit there’s a problem, feeling knackered enough and demoralised by the abuse and not being able to face telling a stranger about it, feeling judged, feeling more afraid of the unknown future than the known present or past. These are just a few examples from a much longer list of possibilities. On one occasion that the police were called to respond to Allman’s violence against Christina, their adult child had told the police that their mother, Christina ‘was too scared to call the police.’ That the panel of people assembled for the domestic homicide review panel declined to identify this, or any other significant barriers to reporting in the report’s conclusion, is a shockingly bad omission.

Research published in 2012 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission showed that 95% of women using women’s services preferred to receive them from a women only-organisation.   Another report ‘Islands in the Stream’ by London Metropolitan University also stressed the importance of independent organisations. The domestic violence and abuse service in Hull is provided by Hull Domestic Abuse Partnership, a multi-agency response within the council’s community safety function. This is not an independent woman-only organisation. It is remiss that the DHR report does not consider whether this might be a barrier to reporting. Indeed it only reinforces the suggestion that too many statutory commissioners are happy to ignore what women tell us about the services they most value and furthermore, that independent women’s organisations are often undervalued and their importance side-lined.

For Christina there were additional problems: she had problematic substance use and a long history of involvement in prostitution. The review details that she had a criminal record including  ‘prostitute loitering and prostitute soliciting’ but does not consider even in passing that this may have affected her behaviour, choices, beliefs about herself or relationship with ‘the authorities’. By failing to look at this, the inclusion of this information in the review risks merely inviting judgment of her character, the expectation of which is itself a barrier to accessing support. Indeed a report by nia found that prostitution-specific criminal records have a profound and specific negative impact on women, massively influencing how they expect to be viewed by others. Additionally, involvement in prostitution itself is a homicide risk factor.  The Femicide Census found that of women who were involved in prostitution and killed  between 2009 and 2015, almost 20% had been killed by a current or former partner, suggesting prostitution must be recognised as not just a risk factor for or form of male violence, but also as a risk factor for intimate partner violence including homicide. There is no indication in the DHR that anyone on the review panel had an expertise in understanding the impacts of prostitution upon women and considered this a barrier.

On 1st February 2015, almost two years and two months after telling the police that she feared Allman would kill her, Christina Spillane was found dead. Allman had stabbed her three times and strangled her in an assault of such force that the blade had snapped. She was 51. Far from there being ‘Nothing [that had] come to light during the review that would suggest that [Christina Spillane’s] death could have been predicted or prevented.’ as concluded in the executive summary, there had been a number of indicators of serious risk: escalating violence, threats to kill, reports of strangulation, separation, expression of suicidal thoughts by Allman, and male entitlement/possessiveness indicated by Allman’s belief that Christina was ‘having an affair’. Christina had spoken to the police, her GP, her drugs support agency, a support provider for women offenders and A&E between calling the police in December 2013 and her murder on the eve of 1st February 2015. It is simply incorrect to state that support ‘was not taken up’. Another interpretation is that Christina Spillane was desperately afraid and made multiple disclosures as she sought to find a route to safety, was facing multiple barriers to accessing specialist services and was failed by those that may have been able to help.

Frank Mullane, CEO of AAFDA,  a charity set up to support families of victims of domestic homicide in memory of his sister and nephew who were murdered by their husband/father, says that the “victim’s perspective should permeate these reviews throughout”. The DHR in to the murder of Christina Spillane sorely failed to achieve this aim

No-one but the perpetrator, Deland Allman, bears responsibility for killing Christina. It is not the purpose of a DHR to redirect blame from violent killers (usually men) who make choices to end (usually women’s) lives. But if DHRs are to fulfil the functions of contributing to a better understanding and the prevention of domestic violence and abuse, they cannot be a hand-washing exercise. They need to ask big questions, there needs to be a robust challenge to victim blaming and they must endeavour to see things from a victim’s (usually woman’s) perspective. If we want them to be part of what makes a difference, we need to make sure that we hear what victims of violence tell us, rather than use them as a means of absolving us from taking responsibility for the differences that we might have been able to make.

 [i]  Since 2001, local authorities have been required to undertake and usually publish reports on Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) where the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by a relative, household member or someone they have been in an intimate relationship with. The purposes of the reviews, which should be chaired by an independent person with relevant expertise, include establishing and applying  what lessons are to be learned from the ways that agencies work to safeguard victims and also, to contribute to a better understanding of and the prevention of domestic violence and abuse.

 

The Attack in Manchester was an Attack on Women and Girls

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Manchester 22

We now know the names of the 22 people confirmed dead in the attack in Manchester, and we know the 17 of them were women and girls.  Whilst not to deny or denigrate the lives of the 5 men that were also taken, it is essential that we view the attack as an attack on women. The attacker chose an event, an  Ariana Grande concert, with a fan base in which girls – preteen and teenage – dominate.

Daesh have claimed responsibility and so the attack is rightly framed in the context of religious extremism.  The patriarchal oppression of women by men is at the heart of this ideology,  and in that respect Daesh is not alone.  Inequality between women and men and men’s violence against women go hand-in-hand the world over.  It is estimated that across the globe  66,000 women and girls are killed violently every year .  Generally those countries with the highest homicide rates are those with the highest rates of fatal violence against women and girls; but other factors are at play too,  countries with higher levels of sex  inequality also have high rates of men’s violence against women and girls. The UK is no exception, this year, even before the attack in Manchester, at least 37 UK women had been killed by men.  Links between men who perpetrate violence against women  and terrorism are now being identified; and mass killers, including school shooters, are almost always male.

Gender is a hierarchy, the ideals of masculinity and femininity are critical tools in maintaining the oppression of women by men,  in the creation of men’s violence against women and the conditions that support and enable it. We cannot afford to fail to identify and name patriarchy as an ideology underpinning violence and we cannot afford to fail to name male violence against women in the Manchester attack.   If we want to end men’s violence against women and girls we will have to dismantle the structures that support inequality between women and men, without this almost any intervention that we might make will have little impact.

The prevent agenda, one of the 4 strands of the UK governments counter-terrorism strategy,  has been condemned as toxic and anti-Muslim, as reinforcing rather than healing mistrust, but cultural relativism is not the solution.   If we want to tackle terrorism, we need to understand and acknowledge that structural inequalities that create the conditions for violent hatred – be they grounded in patriarchy– or imperialism or  capitalism  – are critical and that solutions, if they are to have any impact, need to be equally ambitious.  We also need to make sure our definition of terrorism includes acts of violence perpetrated by those claiming to be motivated by the aims of ideologies held, or perceived to be held, by populations who are mainly white. Religion is one of the tools of ideology. We need to push for a secular state, that doesn’t have to be about the absence of religion from the lives of those who choose it, but it does mean the separation of religion and the state.   Of course if we are to learn from the mistakes of imperialism, this means that the West cannot impose secularism on the Global South.  But we can redouble our efforts to fight for universal Human Rights for all, and human rights fully encompass women’s rights. The right to life, the right to freedom from torture, the right to freedom from slavery: men’s violence against women and more broadly the oppression of women is an international human rights crisis.

Yes, now is the time for unity – and in that unity we should seek our connections to those killed and harmed in the name of violent and oppressive ideologies across the world.  We must be unified in our fight to identify, name and end all forms of men’s violence against women and girls and also to end hierarchies between women and girls.  Whether international terrorism or domestic terrorism, men’s violence against women and girls is used to control, disempower and degrade women and girls.  The attack in Manchester was an attack on women and girls, on our liberty, our safety, our lives.   The response to terrorism must always include the rights of women.

In memory of

Angelica Klis, 40

Georgina Callendar, 18

Saffie Roussos, 8

Kelly Brewster , 32

Olivia Campbell, 15

Alison Howe,45

Lisa Lees, 47

Jane Tweddle-Taylor, 51

Megan Hurley, 15

Nell Jones, 14

Michelle Kiss, 45

Sorrell Leczkowski, 14

Chloe Rutherford, 17

Eilidh Macleod, 14

Wendy Fawell, 50

Courtney Boyle, 19

Elaine McIver,43

And also,

Martyn Hett, 29

Marcin Klis, 42

John Atkinson, 28

Liam Curry, 19

Philip Tron, 32

2017

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138 women

2017

2017: At least 151 UK women killed by men, or where a man is the principal suspect.150 women in 365 days is one woman dead every 2.4 days.

  1. 7 January 2017: Nicola Beck, 52, was found dead along with her husband Michael Beck, 62. Police have described their deaths as ‘domestic related murder and suicide.’
  2. 8 January 2017: Kerri McCauley, 32, was found dead. A post-mortem was inconclusive but Norfolk Police said there was evidence that Kerri was subjected to a severe blunt force assault. Her former partner, Joe Storey, 26, has been charged with her murder.
  3. 10 January 2017: Eulin Hastings, 74, was killed in a house fire. A 26-year-old man was arrested and bailed.
  4. 11 January 2017: Victoria Shorrock, 45, was found dead having suffered ‘a number of injuries’. Lee Grime, 35, had been charged with her murder but the charge was changed to assault when the cause of death could not be verified. Det Insp Tim McDermott said: “Even though we can’t be sure exactly what happened in the hours before she died, what is clear is Grime assaulted her, with her death following at some point afterwards. Victoria was a vulnerable woman who Grime took advantage of. He showed himself to be a dangerous and manipulative individual.” Grimes was jailed for 16 months.
  5. 11 Jan 2017: Kirby Norden (also known as Kirsty), 32, was last seen alive. Her body was found in may in the home she shared with her boyfriend Dean Lowe, 33. Ahe has been charged with her murder.
  6. 16 January 2017: Leone Weeks, 16, was found stabbed to death on a footbath close to her home. 18-year-old Shea Heeley, has been charged with her murder.
  7. 16 January 2017: Kiran Daudia, 46, ‘s remains were found in a suitcase by a member of the public. Her 50-year-old ex-husband, Ashwin Daudia, has been charged with her murder.
  8. 18 January 2017: Kulwinder Kaur, 40, was killed by a stab wound to her neck. Her husband, Azad Singh, 46, has been charged with her murder.
  9. 19 January 2017: Anne Forneaux, 70, was found dead at home and is believed to have been killed by her husband, Edward Forneaux, 74, who is thought to have killed himself by driving in to a tree.
  10. 20 January 2017: Anita Downey, 51, is thought to have been stabbed to death. David Lymess, 51, has been charged with her murder.
  11. 28 January 2017: Chrissy Kendall, 46, was found dead with multipole stab wounds. Her husband James Neary, 46, has been charged with her murder.
  12. 30 January 2017: Gillian Zvomuya, 42, also known as Nyasha Kahari, dies from head injuries and also suffered injuries from a ‘bladed item’. Her husband Norbery Chikerema, 42, has been charged with her murder.
  13. 3 February 2017: Amandeep Kaur, 35, was found dead with significant injuries. Baldeep Singh, 38, has been charged with her murder.
  14. 6 February 2017: Tina Billingham, 54, was taken to a doctor’s surgery with stab wounds but later died in hospital. Her partner Ronald Cook, 54, has been charged with her murder.
  15. 11 February 2017: Hannah Dorans, 21, was found dead. Frazer Neil, 23, has been charged in relation to her death.
  16. 11 February 2017: Catherine Kelly, 71, was killed in a fire which was thought to have been started deliberately.
  17. 11 February 2017: Hang Yin Leung, 64, was killed when a group of men posing as cold callers entered and robbed her home.
  18. 13 February 2017: Karina Batista, 40, was found dead with multiple injuries to her upper body. Jaici Rocha, 36, has been charged with her murder.
  19. 15 February 2017: Humara Khan, 42, was found to have a serious head injury when police were called to her home. She later died in hospital. Her husband Jamal Khan, 52, has been charged with her murder.
  20. 19 February 2017: Hazel Wilson Briant, 27, was stabbed to death by her partner Olumide Orimoloye, 42, who also killed himself.
  21. 19 February 2017: Margaret Stenning, 79, was stabbed to death. Her husband, Ronald Stenning, who claimed she slit her own throat, has been charged with her murder.
  22. 22 February 2017: Avis Addison, 88, was found dead at home after police were called to the property. Her husband Douglas Addison, 88, has been charged with her murder.
  23. 25 February 2017: Beverly Hudson, 42, died in hospital 2 days after having been stabbed 20 times in the neck, chest and abdomen as well as her arms, hands and back by her partner Mark Minott, 41, who used a second knife after the first one broke.
  24. 26 February 2016: Julie McCash, 43, was stabbed to death at a vigil being held for her missing nephew. Robert Stratton, 42, has been charged with her murder.
  25. 26 February 2017: Sarah Pitkin, 58, is believed to have been stabbed to death by her husband Richard Pitkin, , 65, who then hanged himself.
  26. 28 February 2017: Lea Adri-Soejoko, 80, was found dead in an allotment lock-up store. She had been strangled. Rahim Mohammadi, 40, has been charged with her murder.
  27. In February 2015, Justene Reece, 46, killed herself by hanging following a period of sustained stalking and coercive control. In a landmark legal case, Nicolas Allen, who had formerly been Justene’s partner, admitted manslaughter.
  28. 8 March 2017: Anne-Marie James, 33, was stabbed to death by her brother Melvin James,36, who then killed himself. He also badly injured their mother.
  29. 13 March 2017: Sabrina Mullings, 38, was stabbed to death. Her partner Ivan Griffin, 23, has been charged with her murder.
  30. 17 March 2017: Sheila Morgan, 72, died of necrotising fasciitis from an infected stab wound after her and her husband were attacked by Keiran Wathan, 24, who had broken in to their home.
  31. 22 March 2017: Aysha Frade, 43, was killed when Adrian Ajao/Elms, also known as Khalid Massod, drove a car in to pedestrians in a terrorist attack in London.
  32. 25 March 2017: Tracey Wilkinson, 50, and her son Pierce, 13, were stabbed to death by Aaron Bailey who was known to the family. Her husband was also badly hurt in the attack.
  33. 25 March 2017: Kanwal/Bernice Williams was last seen alive. Her body was found on 9th of April, two days after the discovery of the body of her husband Lawrence Williams, 50. He is thought to have killed himself.
  34. 1 April 2017: Elaine Blane, 87, died after being attacked by a man she believed was a window cleaner 20 3rd He struck her on the head multiple times, leaving her with severe bruising, 2 broken ribs and a broken vertebrae. She spent 8 weeks in hospital and died at home of a blood clot to the lung, caused by the attack, on the day she went home. She described her male attacker. Her has not been found.
  35. 4 April 2017: Ana Maria Pereira De Sousa Rebelo, 51, was found dead, it is thought through compression to her neck. 7 months later her husband Alfredo Da Costa Rebelo was charged with her murder.
  36. 6 April 2017: Andreea Christea, 31, died after falling in to the river Thames when Adrian Ajao/Elms, also known as Khalid Massod, drove a car in to pedestrians in a terrorist attack in London on 22 March.
  37. 9 April 2017: Vicki Hull, 31, was found strangled. Mark Mahoney, 31, has been charged with her murder.
  38. 14 April 2017: Hannah Bladon, 20, a student from Derby , was stabbed to death in Jerusalem by Jamil Tamimi, 57.
  39. 17 April 2017: Carolyn Hill, 51, died of a head injury. Skye Page, 37, has been charged with her murder.
  40. 19 April 2017: Karina Evemy, 19, died in hospital of injuries sustained on 13th Her boyfriend Dylan Harries, 21, had previously been charged with attempted murder.
  41. Between 16 April and May 2017: Megan Bills, 17, was killed. She was found decomposing and wrapped in cling film in May. Ashley Foster, 24, was initially charged with preventing a proper burial and later charged with her murder.
  42. 4 May 2017: Karolina Chwiluk, 20, died after being stabbed in an incident in which two other people were injured. Grzesiek Kosiec, 23, said to have been her boyfriend, has been chared with her murder and two counts of GBH.
  43. 7 May 2017: Jane Sherratt, 60, died in hospital 17 weeks after being battered over the dead with a dumbbell as she slept by her husband Paul Sherratt, 57.
  44. 7 May 20107: Tracy Kearns, 43, was strangled and smothered in a sustained and prolonged attack in which she suffered 40 separate injuries by her partner Anthony Bird. After he had killed her, her cut her clothes off, wrapped her naked body in plastic and stuck her in a tree/wendy house, which he had previously made for the children.
  45. 14 May 2017: Megan Bannister, 16, was found dead in a car after a collision. She did not have injuries consistent with a crash. A pathologist has informed the court that she either died of strangulation or an MDMA overdose or a mixture of both. Megan’s blood had 10 times the MDMA of Jason Burder, 28 and Adam King, 28 who were also in the car. Postmortem tests showed Burder’s semen inside and on Megan, as well as under Adam King’s fingernails. Burder and King had been calling ‘escorts’ as they drove around with Megan dead or dying in the car. Burder’s former partner told the court that he was violent and aggressive when he used drugs and put his hands round her neck during sex. Both were found not guilty of the manslaughter of Megan.
  46. 14 May 2017: Sinead Wooding, 26, was stabbed and bludgeoned with a claw hammer before her burnt body was found in woodland. Her husband Akshar Ali, 27, and his friend Yasmin Ahmed, 27, are currently on trial in relation to her death. (Nov 2017)
  47. 15 May 2017: Concepta Leonard, 51, was stabbed to death by her ex-partner Peadar Phair, who and killed himself and tried to kill her son.

On the evening of 22 May, 17 women and girls and 5 men were killed in an attack in        Manchester.  They were

  1. Angelica Klis, 40
  2. Georgina Callendar, 18
  3. Kelly Brewster, 32
  4. Olivia Campbell, 10
  5. Alison Howe, 45
  6. Lisa Lees, 47
  7. Jane Tweddle-Taylor, 51
  8. Megan Hurley, 15
  9. Nell Jones, 14
  10. Michelle Kiss, 45
  11. Sorrell Leczkowski, 14
  12. Chloe Rutherford, 17
  13. Eilidh Macleod, 14
  14. Wendy Fawell, 50
  15. Courtney Boyle, 19
  16. Elaine McIver, 43

Saffie Roussos, 8*

  1. 23 May 2017: Gemma Leeming, 30, was found strangled. Craig O’Sullivan, 39, has been charged with her murder.
  2. 25 May 2017: Emma Day, 33, was stabbed to death. Her ex-partner, Mark Morris, 39, has been charged with her murder.
  3. 26 May 2017: Mohanna Abdhua, 20, also known as Montana, was shot dead in what appears to have been crossfire of a ‘gangland shooting’. Two men have been arrested and bailed.
  4. 27 May 2017: Marjorie Cawdrey and her husband Michael, both 83, were stabbed to death. A 40-year-ond man has been charged in relation to their murders.
  5. 28 May 2017: Sobhia Khan, 37 was found dead. Her husband Ataul Mustafa, 35, has been charged with her murder.
  6. 29 May 2017: Romina Kalachi, 32, was found stabbed to death in London.
  7. 30 May 2017: Arena Saeed, 30 and her two children Shadia, 6 and Rami, 4 were killed in Liverpool. Her husband (their father) Sami Salem, 30, has been charged in relation to their deaths.
  8. 2 June 2017: Alyson Watt, 52, was stabbed to death and her 16-year-old son was also attacked. Her former partner Gary Brown, 54, has been charged.

3 June 2017: 8 people were killed in a terror attack in London by Khuram Shazad Butt, 27; Rachid Redouane, 30; Youssef Zaghba, 22. They included

  1. Christine Archibald, 30
  2. Kirsty Boden, 28
  3. Sara Zelenak, 21
  1. 8 June 2017: Sarah Jeffrey, 48, was strangled. Her husband Christopher Jeffrey, 51, has been charged with her murder.
  2. 9 June 2017: Karen Young, 47, was found dead in Allan Doherty’s flat. He has been charged with culpable homicide.
  3. 13 June 2017: Jean Chapman, 81, was killed by blunt force trauma to the head. Her 71-year-old husband John Chapman, has been charged with murder.
  4. 12 June 2017: Janice Griffiths, 59, died in hospital 2 days after being subjected to a violent attack. A 22-year-old man has been held under the Mental Health Act in relation to her death.
  5. 14 June 2017: Joanne Rand, 47, dies after sustaining chemical burns on 3 June from a substance in a bottle that was kicked during ‘an altercation’. Xeneral Webster has been charged with attempted GBH.
  6. 17 June 2017: Dionne Clark, 27, was found dead. Dominic Wallis, 28, and Elizabeth Ellis, 19, have been charged in relation to her murder.
  7. 18 June 2017: Ellen Higginbottom, 18, was killed through multiple wounds to her neck. Mark Steven Buckley, 51, has been charged with her murder.
  8. 27 June 2017: Julie Parkin, 39, was stabbed to death. Adam Parkin, 35, has been charged with her murder.
  9. 29 June 2017: Molly McLaren, 23, was killed by her throat being slit. Her ex-boyfriend, Joshua Stimpson, 25, has been charged with her murder.
  10. 3 July 2017: Jane Mathew, 62, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer by her husband Francis Mathew, 61. The couple were from the UK and lived in Dubai.
  11. 6 July 2017: Ilona Czuper, 63, was stabbed and slashed in the throat more than 60 times and beaten over the head by what what was thought most likely to be a paving slab by her grandson Kordian Filmanowicz, 23. He also smashed the skulls of her pet cat and dog.
  12. 9 July 2017: Vera Savage, 89, was stabbed to death. Police believe her son John Savage, 54, killed her and then himself.
  13. 10 July 2019: Janice Farman, 47, from Clydebank, had lived and worked in Mauritius since 2004. She died of asphyxiation after being attacked by masked robbers Kamlesh Mansing, 27, and Anish Soneea, 20, on 6 July 2017. They were jailed for 33 and 23 years respectively.  A third suspect, Ravish Rao Fakhoo, is claiming a reduction in his charge and will face a separate trial.
  14. 19 July 2017: Celine Dookhran, 19, was kidnapped, raped, had her throat cut and her body was placed in a freezer. Majahid Arshid, 33, has been charged.
  15. 20 July 2017: Vanessa James, 24 was stabbed in the neck and abdomen. Tre Cameron, 21, has been charged with her murder.
  16. 21 July 2017: Florina Pastina, 36, was suffered head injuries as a result of being bludgeoned in the head with a hammer. Lucian Stinci, 34, has been charged with her murder.
  17. 21 July 2017: Olivia Kray, 19, was strangled. Her father, Richard Kray. 63 has been charged with her murder and the attempted murder of another woman.
  18. 25 July 2017: Natividad Nituan, 70, was stabbed and strangled by her partner Raymond Page, 64, in July 2017. She had knife wounds on her hands where she had tried to defend herself and blunt force injuries to her head and face.
  19. 29 July 2017: Farnaz Ali, 49, was killed in what has been described as a ‘sustained assault’ . Danny Williams, 26, has been charged with her murder.
  20. 31 July 2017: Elizabeth (Betty) Jordan, 53, was found seriously injured and died later in hospital. Her husband, Paul Jordan, 54, has been charged with her murder.
  21. 3 August 2017: Leanne Collopy, 25, was found in a burning house with her 2-year-old daughter. She died of stab wounds and burns. Saleem Said, 39, has been charged with her murder, the attempted murder of the two year old girl and arson with intent to endanger life
  22. 5 August 2017: Rikki Lander, 26, was found dead at home. Her husband Paul Lander was found hanged. Police said that ‘It’s clear a sustained attack had taken place towards Rikki.’
  23. 6 August 2017: Alex Stuart, 22, was found with facial injuries and had been stabbed. She died in hospital. Nicholas Rogers, 26, has been charged with her murder.
  24. 11 August 2017: Leah Cohen, 66, and her daughter Hannah Cohen, 33, were stabbed to death. Joshua Cohen, 27, Leah’s son and Hannah’s brother, has been charged with their murders.
  25. 11 August 2017: Hannah Cohen, 33, and her mother, Leah Cohen, 66, were stabbed to death. Joshua Cohen, 27, Hannah’s brother and Leah’s son, has been charged with their murders.
  26. 12 August 2017: Beryl Hammond, 81, was found dead at home. Her son, Darren Hammond, 41, has been charged with her murder.
  27. 14 August 2017: Quyen Ngoc Nguyen, 29, was found dead inside a burning car. William McFall, 50, and Stephen Unwin, 39, have been charged with her murder.
  28. 14 August 2017: Karen Jacquet, 59, was found dead by police called to an incident. Yousef Mohammed, 65, has been charged with murder.
  29. 22 August 2017: Asiyah Harris, 27, was stabbed to death by her husband Adan Dahir, 38, after telling him that she was leaving him.
  30. 26 August 2017: Kellie Sutton, 30, died in hospital 3 days after attempting to kill herself. Her partner Stephen Gane, 31, was found guilty of coercive control in a landmark case in which the judge told him “ Your behaviour drove Kellie Sutton to hang herself that morning. ‘You beat her and ground her down and broke her spirits.”
  31. 27 August 2017: Jessica King, 23, was found dead. Jordan Thackray, 27, has been charged with her murder.
  32. 9 September 2017: Tyler Denton, 25, was found dead. Redvers Bickley, 21, was charged with her murder and the attempted murder of her father and two sisters
  33. September 2017: Emma Kelty, 43, was shot, raped, tortured and had her throat slit before her body was dumped in fast flowing water. She was kayaking down the Amazon river and killed in Brazil by drug traffickers.
  34. 24 September 2017: Jane Hings, 72, was found dead at home. Craig Keogh, 25, has been charged with her murder, rape and burglary.
  35. 25 September 2017: Linda Parker, 51, was found dead at home after police received a call expressing concern at her welfare. Glen Gibbons. 51, has been charged with her murder.
  36. 25 September 2017: Amy Barnes, 32, was stabbed in the neck as she slept in bed by her husband 30-year-old James Barnes. He then killed himself.
  37. 27 September 2017: Nasima Noorzia, 29, was found dead in woodland by a roadside after a search following a call about concerns for her safety. Her husband, Habib Rahman, 42, has been charged with her murder.
  38. 28 September 2017: Katherine Smith, 26, was found dead. Anthony Lowe, 46, has been charged with her murder.
  39. 29 September 2017: Leanne McKie, 39, was found dead in a lake. Her husband Darren, McKie, 43, has been charged with her murder.
  40. 4 October 2017: Jane Sergeant, 67, was collected from a care-home by her husband Richard Sergeant, he took her to their home and smothered her and then hanged himself.
  41. 15 October 2017: Shaeen Akthar, 46, was killed. Her husband Parvez Akhtar, 46, has been charged with her murder.
  42. 20 October 2017: Teresa Wishart, 80, was found dead as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. Charles Stapleton, 51 has been charged with her murder. He was also charged with burglary.
  43. 21 October 2017: Moira Gilbertson, 57, was found dead. It is believed she had been dead for some time. Roger Crossan, 52, has been charged with her murder.
  44. 21 October 2017: Anne O’Neill, 51, was found fatally injured in the garden of her elderly parents. Her son, Declan O’Neill, 27, has been charged with her murder.
  45. 22 October 2017: Elizabeth Merriman, 39, was killed by stab wounds to the torso and abdomen. Her husband Darren Merriman has been charged with her murder.
  46. 22October 2017: Janet Northmore, 76, was found dead. Shaun McDonald, 54, was charged with her murder.
  47. 26 October 2017: Jillian Howell, 46, was stabbed to death. Her colleague David Browning, 51, has been charged with her murder.
  48. 29 October 2017: Mary Steel, 79, was stabbed to death. Her son, Nicholas Steel, 57, has been charged with her murder.
  49. 4 November 2017: Chloe Miazek, 20, was found dead. Mark Bruce, 32, has been charged in relation to her death.
  50. 5 November 2017: Simone Grainger, 30, was found dying of head Her husband Steven Grainger, 32, has been charged with her murder.
  51. 12 November 2017: Michele Anison, 56, was volunteering in Belize when she was stabbed to death.
  52. 15 November 2017: Patricia McIntosh, 56, died of head injuries. Her husband Andrew McIntosh, 54, has been charged with her murder.
  53. 16 November 2017: Catherine Burke, 55, was stabbed to death in her own home in a sexually motivated assault by Kasim Lewis, 30, who, 6 weeks later murdered  Iuliana Tudos.
  54. 21/22 November 2017: Valerie Turner, 62, died in hospital after a cardiac arrest which followed her being assaulted by her son Jason Turner, 37. He has admitted to killing her.
  55. 23 November 2017: Lisa-Marie Thornton, 36, was stabbed 3 times by her former partner Owen Pellow, 43.
  56. 25 November 2017: Tracey Bowen, 52, was stabbed in the neck by Steven Jones, 36.
  57. 27 November 2017: Lisa Chadderton, 44, died of stab wounds and strangulation. Mark Tindill, 56, has been charged with her murder.
  58. 29 November 2017: Monika Lasek, 36, was stabbed to death. Her husband Zbigniew Lasek, 35, has been charged with her murder.
  59. 29 November 2017: Ruby Wilson, 94, was stabbed in the throat. Her grandson, Anthony Jennings, 32, has been charged with her murder.
  60. Patricia Henry, 46, went missing in November 2017. In October 2021, George Metcalff, 71, was found guilty of raping and murdering her. Patricia’s body has not been found.
  61. 1 December 2017: Susan Westwood, 68, was found with multiple stab wounds. Thomas Westwood, 46, has been charged in relation to her death.
  62. 4 December 2017: Marie Brown, 41, was strangled at the home of her father, who had also been murdered. Their killer(s) has/have not yet been found.
  63. 7 December 2017: Ella Parker, 29, died of puncture wounds to the neck. Ryan Blacknell, 24, described in the press as ‘a friend’, has been charged in relation to her death.
  64. 11 December 2017: Demi Pearson, 15, died in a house fire along with three siblings in an arson attack committed by Zak Bolland, 23 and David Worrall, 25, who had been involved in a feud with her older brother.
  65. 12 December 2017: Janine Bowater, 25, was strangled to death. Her partner John Wright, 32, was charged with her murder.
  66. 16 December 2017: Suzanne Brown, 33, was stabbed 173 times. Jake Neate, 36, has been charged with her murder.
  67. 16 December 2017: Rebecca Dykes, 30, was sexually assaulted and strangled before being dumped at a roadside. Tarek Hawchieh, 36, has admitted to her murder.
  68. 21 December 2017: Jodie Willsher, 30, was stabbed to death at work. Neville Hord, 44, said to be the former partner of her mother, has been charged with her murder.
  69. 22 December 2017: Beverley Bliss, 52, was found dead and her partner seriously injured. Her son James Standing, 35, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
  70. 23 December 2017: Nicole Campbell, 30, was found dead with 30 stab wounds. It is believed that she was killed by John Morris, who also killed himself.
  71. 24 December 2017: Iuliana Tudos, 22, went missing as she was on the way to meet friends. She was found dead with a head injury and stab wounds in a disused park building. Kasim Lewis, 31, has been charged with her murder.
  72. 25 December 2017: Jayne Reat, 43, was stabbed to death as she tried to protect her daughter. Nathan Ward, the son of her partner, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
  73. 25 December 2017: Jillian Grant, 43, was found dead in a house where there had been a fire. Mark Smith, 41, has been charged with her murder and attempted murder.
  74. 26 December 2017: Pauline Cockburn, 48, was found dead with her partner Kevin Armstrong, 53. Police believe he killed her before killing himself.
  75. 27 December 2017: Julie Fox, 51, was found dead in her home after a neighbour reported a smell of gas. Adrian Jenkins, 43, has been charged with her murder.
  76. 30 December 2017: Anne Searle, 62, was found dead. Her husband Stephen Searle, 64, has been charged with her murder.
  77. 31 December 2017: Melanie Clark, 44, was stabbed to death. Her husband David Clark, 49, has been charged with her murder.

Awaiting charging/conviction information regarding the death of Rosemarie Stokes.   

Please let me know if you have information regarding the deaths of 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 2017.

*Counting  Dead Women is a record of women and girls aged 13 and over. Saffie Roussos is commemorated here but not included in the count.

Who gets to define femicide?

by

I’ve been undecided about the use of the term ‘femicide’  to describe the list of names of the UK  women killed through suspected1 male violence.  The term is useful because it takes the concept of fatal male violence against women beyond domestic violence and that’s important, many people’s understanding of the concept of fatal male violence against women stops and ends at women killed through domestic violence.  However, that the term ‘femicide’ in itself fails to name the male as the agent is problematic.  An early definition of femicide as “the killing of females by males because they are females”2  dealt with this, though there is a convincing argument for the inclusion of women killed by women because of the influence of patriarchal values.

In 2012, the participants of the Vienna Symposium on Femicide agreed the following:

Femicide is the killing of women and girls because of their gender, which can take the form of, inter alia: 1) the murder of women as a result of intimate partner violence; 2) the torture and misogynist slaying of women 3) killing of women and girls in the name of “ honour”; 4) targeted killing of women and girls in the context of armed conflict; 5) dowry-related killings of women; 6) killing of women and girls because of their sexual orientation and gender identity; 7) the killing of aboriginal and indigenous women and girls because of their gender; 8) female infanticide and gender-based sex selection foeticide; 9) genital mutilation related femicide; 10) accusations of witchcraft and 11) other femicides connected with gangs, organized crime, drug dealers, human trafficking, and the proliferation of small arms.

As a list of some of the forms that femicide can take, this is helpful and aids the understanding of femicide as something much wider than domestic violence.  The use of the term ‘inter alia’ meaning ‘among other things’ indicates that even they were not convinced that this included everything.  They’re right, it certainly doesn’t include everything.  The definition fascinates me.  It is 123 words long.  123 words and the words man, men or male do not appear once. The full declaration is over 800 words long.  It mentions men and boys once, in reference to ‘sensitising education programmes’. The argument that femicide can also include the killings of women by women because of the influence of patriarchal values is not so convincing that it warrants the absence of the identification of men as perpetrators in a declaration to take action to end femicide that spans over 800 words. The vast majority of women who are killed, are killed by men, whilst it is also true that the vast majority of killers of men are also men, this cannot warrant the failure to name men as the killers of women.  One of the significant achievements of feminism is getting male violence against women into the mainstream and onto the policy agenda.  One of the threats against this achievement is that those with power take the concepts and under the auspices of dealing with the problem shake some of the most basic elements of feminist understanding right out of them.  The exclusion of male violence from the declaration on femicide is inexcusable.  Inexcusable because failing to name the agent will not help us to end, or even reduce, fatal male violence against women.  Could failing to name men as the agents of femicide be a patriarchal political act?

I’ve written about the murders of 18 year-old Samantha Sykes and 17 year-old Kimberley Frank in other pieces.  It was their murders by Ahmad Otak that convinced me that a list of women killed by men through domestic violence, simply was not enough. Otak wasn’t the boyfriend of either of them, but of Elisa Frank, Kimberley’s sister.  The murders of Samantha and Kimberley don’t fit the definition of domestic violence, but they’re absolutely about a man trying to exert power, control and coercion in his relationship, reports of their murders have stated that he was attempting to show Elisa that he would allow no-one to stand in the way of them being together. The murders of Kimberley and Samantha were every bit about male violence against women, control and coercion through the display of the power to kill.  I doubt anyone would try to say that the murders of Samantha and Kimberley weren’t femicide.

I’ve been challenged about the inclusion of older women killed in the process of robberies and muggings in my work naming the women killed through male violence.  In 2012, six older women, aged between 75 and 88 were killed by much younger men, aged between 15 and 43 as they were robbed or mugged:

Irene Lawless, 68 who was raped, beaten and strangled by 26 year old Darren Martin. Pornography depicting rape and featuring older women was found on his home computer.

Margaret Biddolph, 78 and Annie Leyland, 88 were strangled and robbed by Andrew Flood, 43, who knew them through his job as a taxi driver. He’d also robbed a third woman elderly woman and threatened to kill her cat.  He was clearly targeting women.

Delia Hughes was 85 when she was killed by 25 year-old Jamie Boult. He struck her repeatedly about the head with a hammer, a hammer he was carrying specifically because he intended to kill.  When Boult was sentenced, Delia’s daughter, Beryl said

“I’ve never seen a dead body before. Seeing my mum her head battered, covered in blood, black and blue with bruises, sitting in a pool of blood, blood splattered on the walls, this is a sight that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

The murder of Delia Hughes was not simply a robbery gone wrong.

Similarly, Jean Farrar, 77, was kicked and stamped on by Daniel Barnett, 20, until she was her virtually unrecognisable.  Her  son Jamie was absolutely right when he said 2Daniel Barnett did not need to enter my mother’s house that night. He chose to. Upon finding my mum at home, he easily could have left.  Instead he chose to beat her and throw her against the wall. And when she screamed in pain, he chose to kick her, stamp on her, and jump on her head until she was unable to scream any more.”

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Jamie Boult and Daniel Barnett’s choices to carry out robberies, that these choices also included choices to inflict fatal violence was not inevitable.

Paula Castle was 85 when she was knocked to the ground when she was mugged by Jiervon Bartlett and Nayed Hoque who were both 15.  They may not have intended to kill her, but they also mugged another woman the next day.  They were clearly targeting women.  

I’ve been told that the killing of elderly women as part of a robbery or mugging is “not femicide”.  I disagree.  These women were killed because they were women.  And if their killings are not femicide, then it is because the term femicide is being misused

Epistemology questions what knowledge is and how it can be acquired. The acquisition and identification of what constitutes knowledge does not escape structural inequalities of sex, class and race.  Dr Maddy Coy of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University calls for the recognition of practice-based evidence, for example from specialist women’s organisations, to be considered as expertise as worthy as that of academics.  It’s ‘participant observation’ when it’s produced by an academic, it’s ‘anecdotal’ when it comes from a women’s services provider.  Does the objectification of women and the valuing of us on our merits based on the patriarchal fuckability test mean that it is the murders of elderly women that are those most likely to be excluded from the term femicide?  Women talk about the mixed blessing of becoming invisible as we grow older, is that what has happened with the term femicide?  Has sex inequality, particularly in patriarchally infected academia and state bureaucracies, depoliticised them term ‘femicide’ to the point that male violence has been erased from the concept?  Until the hierarchies of knowledge  are eradicated, then the role of anything considered knowledge in upholding structural inequality, is open to question.

How easy is it to escape socially constructed gender? How many of us, if our values were assessed and measured, would be found not to be influenced – at all – by sexism and sexist stereotypes?  Do we know that the population of men who kill women are not more sexist and misogynistic than a control group? When misogyny and sexism are so pervasive, are all but inescapable, can a man killing a women ever not be a sexist act?  A fatal enactment of patriarchy?

If an 800 word declaration on  femicide is the best that policy makers and ‘experts’ can come up with and yet it does not mention the words ‘male violence’ ,  if it does not name men as the agents and beneficiaries of fatal male violence against women, it is time for feminists to take back the term and make sure that the definition is ours.

Footnotes

 1 I have to say ‘suspected’ until a trial has been held or an inquest in the case of a man who has also killed himself.

2 Credited to   Diana E. H. Russell