‘Imagine this was your daughter’: how grieving mothers campaigned to close sentencing gap

David Lammy’s decision to increase minimum sentence for domestic murder victims follows years of tireless lobbying

David Lammy had gone quiet. Sitting in his ministerial office in the Palace of Westminster, the justice secretary had just been presented with pictures of women killed by their partners in their own homes, by their grieving mothers.

As she put the photographs in front of him, Carole Gould explained that her 17-year-old daughter, Ellie, was killed by fellow sixth-former Thomas Griffiths the day after she ended their relationship in 2019. Julie Devey, who was joining the call remotely, showed a photograph of her daughter, Poppy Devey Waterhouse , who was 24 when she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Joe Atkinson, on 14 December 2018.

In both cases the young women were stabbed repeatedly; both killers tried to hide their crimes. But because they had been attacked in a domestic setting, with weapons used from their homes, their killers faced a maximum sentence of 15 years – 10 years fewer than if they had been murdered in the street or by a weapon brought to the murder scene. Atkinson’s sentence was fixed at 16 years; Griffiths got 12 and a half years. It was, the mothers said, like their daughter’s lives were worth a decade less.

Gould, frustrated after seven years of campaigning, looked Lammy in the eye and said: “Imagine this was your daughter.” The justice minister, who has described adopting his daughter as “the best thing he and his wife ever did” alongside having their two sons, appeared shocked. The pair also showed photographs of women whose killers were sentenced in 2026, after new measures to deliver longer sentences for domestic murders if aggravating factors, such as domestic abuse or overkill, were involved. Their killers also received lower sentences. The measures weren’t working, said Devey.

“I said: ‘That’s got to change. Whatever you’re doing at the moment is not working. What power have you got?’” recalled Devey. Lammy, they say, insisted he did have power. So Gould interjected: “Well, if you’ve got the power, David, why don’t you just level up sentencing all to 25 years?”

There was another moment of quiet before he replied: “All right, I will.” The women looked at each other. For a few moments, no one spoke. “We’re just a bit stunned, thinking have we heard this right?” said Gould. “And then we just burst into tears.”

On Tuesday, Devey and Gould, alongside Elaine Newborough, the mother of 23-year-old Megan Newborough, who was murdered by her boyfriend Ross McCullam in 2021, watched from the public gallery. Lammy – who had been “deeply moved” by the mothers’ stories and was pleased to be able to deliver for them, according to a source – stood and said that murderers who kill their current or ex-partner in England and Wales will now face the prospect of an extra 10 years behind bars . The mothers held on to each other, tissues in hand, as their families let out a short, cathartic cheer.

“It is very emotional,” said Newborough, who also attended the meeting that laid the path for this moment two months ago. “It is amazing, but it’s just so sad that it’s been so hard. It is a bit overwhelming to be here on this momentous occasion. Our girls will be so proud of us, I’m sure.”

It has been a long road to this point. Devey, who had been campaigning with her family, reached out to Gould after hearing her talk about her daughter on television, and the pair started working together just before the Covid pandemic struck. Two years later, in a cafe in London, they took turns to tell the Guardian about the loved ones they had lost and why they had joined forces to launch Killed Women – a campaigning organisation led by families of women killed by men.

Under former chief executive Anna Ryder – who was brought into government as an adviser on violence against women and girls earlier this year – they launched the “You were told” campaign in 2023, highlighting failures in a system that ignored warning signs. In 2024 their Fallen Women campaign put pressure on police to examine whether domestic abuse was a factor in cases where women had fallen from a height to their deaths.

The same year, they worked with the Guardian on its Killed Women Count campaign , which reported on every known death of every woman allegedly killed by a man throughout 2024, thanks to the recording of Counting Dead Women and the Femicide Census . And in 2025 Invisible Women highlighted the systemic failures that leaves black, minoritised and migrant abuse victims particularly vulnerable.

Jess Phillips, who has supported the group since its inception, was present to shepherd families into the Commons chamber on Tuesday. Devey approached the MP for Birmingham Yardley, who has read out the names of women killed in the UK by men in parliament for the past 11 years, at one of her book signings. “I told her that she had read out the name of my daughter,” she said. “And she just stood up and gave me the biggest hug.”

Phillips, who resigned as safeguarding minister in May , said the women – who lobbied Keir Starmer while he was still leader of the opposition – had righted a “fundamental unfairness” in the criminal justice system. “It’s been a really long journey, and I’m so glad to see it come to fruition.”

The new measure, which is subject to consultation with the sentencing council, is not perfect, campaigners have noted. The domestic abuse commissioner, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said she was disappointed the sentencing increase will not apply when a victim is killed by a family member, including sons killing their mothers and so-called ‘“honour”-based abuse.

“We’ll keep going,” said Devey. “We’re not going to stop now.” Gould is also focused on raising the new guidelines when her daughter’s killer faces the Parole Board. “This is a recognition that he is as dangerous as someone inside for 25 years,” she said.

But they will allow themselves a moment of satisfaction. Gould remembers that, after her daughter’s killer was sentenced, the family’s barrister told her the law “was cold” and there was nothing they could do about sentencing guidelines. “I always thought, from that moment onwards: ‘I’m going to show you one day this is wrong,’” she said. “And today we have.”