August 2024

 

Hello and thank you all for coming to join us this evening.

We meet here on the first Monday of every month to remember the UK women who have been killed by men, and to honour all of the women who have suffered from VAWG.

This is the 36^th time we have done this – we started 3 years ago in September. We haven’t all been to all of those vigils, but every month some of us have stood here and I am inordinately proud of all of us.

But… more often than I’d like I question whether or not we should carry on, whether we are achieving anything, whether we are just wasting our time.

And then I have an experience that makes me think that doing anything at all is better than doing nothing, because even the fact that we advertise the vigil raises some awareness is some dark corner…

Let me share something that happened a few weeks ago.

I was on my way to a meeting when I heard a report on the radio about 3 women being found dead in a house from crossbow injuries.

The people I was going to meet were two men in their early 70s and I was going to talk to them about their father’s funeral. He had served in the war and had died aged 99. One of the men was single and the other was married with a couple of adult sons.

That was what I knew about them before I met them, and it never entered my mind that they were the sort of people I would talk to about what I’d heard on the radio. I was prejudiced about old white men – I admit it.

Not only did they bring it up with me - they were interested in my thoughts on it - they also said that they suspected that it would have been a partner or boyfriend. That information hadn’t been released.

They were angry and sad that young men felt entitled to behave in such extreme ways when things weren’t going well for them. Their words not mine!

 

So I was wrong to think that “men like them” wouldn’t care about the injustices of VAWG.

And I was pleased that maybe we weren’t doing this completely in vain.

 

By the way - Kyle Clifford, 26, is suspected of having murdered Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25. Clifford is understood to be a former boyfriend of Louise Hunt.

 

And these are the other details of reports we have found since our vigil in July:

Rita Fleming, 70, was found dead inside her home in Kensington. Clifford Cowen, 57, is charged with her murder.

Lynsey Timms, 41, was found in cardiac arrest at a house in Nuneaton. She died four days later. Ryan Timms, 43, is charged with her murder.

Joanne Samak, 49, died of serious injuries at her home in Droitwich. Her husband, Mohammed Samak, 42, is charged with her murder.

Louise Hall, 43, was found dead at a flat in Leeds. She suffered multiple injuries. Steven Francis, 59, is charged with her murder.

Alana Odysseos, 32, was found with stab injuries at a property in Deptford. She died at the scene. Her ex-partner, Shaine March, 44, is charged with her murder.

Jenny Sharp, 80, was found dead at the home she shared with her husband in Tolworth, Kingston Upon Thames. Her husband Alan Sharp, 80, has been charged with her murder.

Laura Robson, 37, was found with serious injuries at a house in Gateshead. Ben Hughes, 38, has been charged with her murder.

Rebecca Simkin, 31, was found dead at a property in Stafford, Staffordshire. Wayne Bond, 44, has been charged with her murder.

So has anything improved in the last 3 years since we started this vigil here, or in the last 20 years since Emily Delagrange was murdered by a man here on this Green. Well certainly the numbers haven't changed...

I railed against the press and politicians in my first vigil speech.

The BBC in their reporting of the deaths of the three Hunt women continually referred to the suspects as Mr Clifford… so I'll continued to be annoyed about stuff like that. 

But, since the last General Election Jess Phillips has been appointed as Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for safeguarding and VAWG. I think she’s a good politician, lets see if she can achieve anything.

And rather than questioning whether or not to continue supporting this vigil, I think I’d like to do more instead. I just haven’t decided what that should be yet so if anyone has any ideas do feel free to let me know, and I’ll let you know and ask for your help when I’ve made a decision.

Until then, I hope you will be able to join us here again on Monday September 2^nd.