Domestic killers could face tougher sentences for crimes

Ministers will also consider whether the minimum term of punishment should be raised for murderers who used a knife or another weapon that was already at the crime scene to kill.

A public consultation to consider the plans has been launched after the proposals were announced earlier this year, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said.

This comes after mothers whose daughters were murdered by their ex-partners using kitchen knives found at their homes called for a hike in the starting points of such killers’ jail terms.

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Mr Chalk said: “It is shocking that around one in four murders are committed by a current or former partner, or relative.

“This Government has already gone further than ever to protect women and girls, with tough new protection orders plus laws to ensure abusers and killers spend longer behind bars.

“To make sure sentencing policy is meeting the threat, it is right to review this complex landscape so that the scourge of violence against women is tackled as coherently and effectively as possible.”

Around 90 people, most of which are women, are killed by their current or ex-partner every year and the majority of the murders take place at home.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said that when a weapon is used, it’s often a kitchen knife that is already at the scene.

Currently, the starting point for a prison term for murders where a weapon is taken to the scene is 25 years.

However, a threshold of up to 10 years lower normally applies to killings involving a weapon already at the scene.

In 2019, Ellie Gould, 17, was stabbed to death at her home in Calne, Wiltshire by boyfriend Thomas Griffiths after she ended their relationship.

He then rearranged the scene to make it look like she inflicted the fatal wounds herself. He was jailed for a minimum of 12 years and six months.

Ellie’s mother Carole Gould co-founded organisation Killed Women to campaign on the issue alongside Julie Devey, whose daughter Poppy Devey Waterhouse was murdered by ex-partner Joe Atkinson in Leeds in 2018 after he failed to come to terms with the end of their three-year relationship.

He was jailed for a minimum of 15 years and 310 days after stabbing her 23 times and inflicting more than 100 injuries overall.

Plans to change the law also follow recommendations made by Clare Wade KC in an independent review into domestic homicide sentencing.