May 2024

Good evening, and thank you all for attending this monthly Vigil where we remember the women who have been murdered last month at the hands of men.

Zhe Wang, 31, was stabbed to death in a house in Deptford, south-east London. Fellow student, Joshua Michals, 24, has been charged with murder.

Pauline Sweeney, 50, was found stabbed to death at a property in Coventry. William Brady, 57, believed to have been her partner, has been charged with murder.

Ursula Uhlemann, 80, was found dead at a property in Queenspark, London. A provisional cause of death is given as compression to the neck. Her partner, Steven Clark, 50, is charged with murder.

Carol Matthews, 73, was found dead in a house in Staffordshire. Peter Matthews, 79, has been charged with murder.

Tiffany Render, 34, was killed at a property in Whitehaven, Cumbria. Paul Irwin, 50, has been charged with murder and sexual assault.

Ruth Baker, 48, was found at a property on Tempest Road, in Leeds. George Chalmers, 53, of Tempest Road, Leeds, is charged with murder.

Sarah Mayhew, 38, was found in a park in Croydon. Steve Samson, 44 has been charged with murder. He has also been charged with three counts of making indecent images of a child.

Rachel McDaid, 53, was found dead at her home in Nottingham. Michael McDaid, 60, is charged with murder.

Samantha Mickleburgh, 54, was found dead at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey. Her partner, James Cartright, 60, has been charged with murder and controlling and coercive behaviour.

Lisa Welford, 49, was pulled out of the River Derwent. She was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead. Vincent Morgan, 47, is charged with her murder.

In the press recently there have been reports of protests across Australia, in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Canberra & Sydney, calling for tougher laws on Violence against women after the wave of recent violence against women, demanding the government take immediate & emergency action to address the need to change the Culture, Attitudes, the legal system & the approach by all Governments. The protesters were calling for the violence against women to be classified as a National Emergency. Whilst violence against women is considered to be a problem of epidemic proportions there are signs of progress, this information has been taken from OurWatch Australia which is a national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women & their children in Australia;

· The National Plan to End Violence against Women & Children (2022 – 2032) was developed & supported by the Commonwealth, state & territory governments. This plan commits to 10 years of action, effort & partnerships for preventing violence against women in Australia.

· There is increasing focus on perpretation and working with men & boys in the prevention of violence against women. Frameworks such as Change the Story, Men in Focus & the National Plan outline key actions for working with men & boys.

· There is increasing focus on establishing prevention infrastructure to ensure our efforts are effective and lead to long-term social change. Examples of prevention infrastructure

include sustained political leadership, policy, regulatory & legislative reform & national monitoring & reporting mechanisms.

· Our Tracking Progress in Prevention report measures progress towards preventing violence against women in Australia over 10 years. It demonstrates that Australia’s approach to prevention is based on sound evidence and shows encouraging signs of progress. People working in primary prevention can use the findings to inform their efforts and investments, to help maximise impact and advance progress.

One woman killed every 4 days there is appalling, but no worse than here in the UK, why are we not out on the streets here protesting?

We too have Government Policy for Tackling Violence against women & girls’ strategy which has been updated 18th Nov 2021. It is a 131 page Document, so a lot of reading! Do we feel any safer?

So we have some Great news – Stacy Hart who stood for WEP Basingstoke Councillor on 2nd May won by an Amazing 61% of the vote taking the seat from the Conservatives who held it in the ward since late 80’s early 90’s. There are now x 2 Tory representatives & Stacy, has plans to take the other x 2 seats in 2026 and 2027! A resounding success for Stacy & WEP considering she lost by only 75 votes last year. Some of our Richmond Branch members gave their time to Leaflet, Canvas & hand write addresses on the envelopes of the Postal Voter details we had. Stacy has expressed her thanks and appreciation for all the support she has received from the Richmond Rockstars!

Dates for diary, the next Vigil will be here at 6pm on Monday 3rd June the next White Ribbon walk will start at midday on Saturday May 18th from Kew Station. 

Thank you

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