Despite the Government's reasurances, talk of a perpetrator strategy and tweaking of guidance, there's still no proactive identification or monitoring of serial and violent offenders and women are paying with their lives.
Zara Aleena was murdered in June 2022 by serial perpetrator Jordan McSweeney. McSweeney had 28 previous convictions for 69 separate offences dating back 17 years including violence to his ex partners and a restraining order.
He was a high risk offender, released as a medium risk offender because the probation service did not have access to his extensive history of violence against women.
He came out of prison and was caught on camera searching for a woman to harm. He stalked Zara, he sexually assaulted her and kicked and beat her to death. His extensive history of violence should have been joined up. He should not have been released. Zara's murder was preventable.
On February 1 2022 Ashley Wadsworth was found dead in Essex. She had been strangled and stabbed more than 90 times in a brutal attack by boyfriend, Jack Sepple. Hailey Wadsworth says that her 19 year old sister would still be alive if her family had known about Sepple's previous convictions against women for harassment and assault.
In June 2019 Regan Tierney was killed by her ex-partner, Daniel Patten. He threatened to kill her after she separated from him. Regan called Greater Manchester Police in fear for her life.
The police failed to investigate or risk assess Regan despite her and her father repeatedly calling police. Days later Patten stabbed her to death. Regan was subject to coercive and controlling behaviour, intimidation, verbal abuse, physical violence and threats, at the hands of Daniel Patten.
Last week a serving Metropolitan Police Officer David Carrick admitted to at least 80 sex attacks on women including 47 rapes. Despite nine allegations to police of his violence to women across his career and his nickname 'Bastard Dave', the Metropolitan Police Service failed to spot the pattern and act. He not only remained in office, he was promoted and given a firearm. He should have been stopped much earlier.
Last year the government promised to make male violence towards women and girls a strategic policing priority - yet there is no evidence this has happened.
Since 2003 I have shown overwhelming evidence of cases where women and children have been abused and murdered by serial domestic abusers and stalkers and still there is no real action - just talk and the sound of papers being shuffled.
Enough is enough.
We said we would bring this back to Parliament. Talk is cheap and too many have died. We demand action. Women's and children's lives must be a priority.
It takes all of us. Please:
- Share this petition far and wide and ask others to sign it. Let's get it to 300, 000 signatures.
- Share all the cases we are highlighting on social media.
- Write to your MP and demand that they prioritise male violence towards women and that they highlight the need and urgency for serial domestic abusers and stalkers to be included on the same register as sex offenders and that they are proactively identified, assessed and managed just like sex offenders are at the statutory Multi-agency Public Protection meetings.
Thank you! More soon.
Laura