Diana Parkes and Hetti Barkworth-Nanton meet with Ministers and call for change

Today, Diana Parkes and Hetti Barkworth-Nanton attended a meeting with Minister for Sentencing & Youth Justice, Sir Nic Dakin MP, and Minister for Victims and VAWG, Alex Davies-Jones MP.

The meeting comes as The Joanna Simpson Foundation are calling for the Government to:

• undertake a Commission into our fragmented homicide laws, sentences and procedures in England and Wales to reflect a society for the 21^st century. Laws and sentencing surrounding murder and manslaughter have not been fundamentally changed for nearly 60 years and as a result are antiquated and unbalanced which victims and their loved ones have to live with.
• implement license conditions that prioritise surviving victims in cases of manslaughter and murder and in doing so reduce public risk and public cost, as well as enable surviving victims to live free of fear.

Diana and Hetti have been campaigning for a review into the homicide laws, sentences and procedures in England and Wales for 12 years.

Diana Parkes said: “I extend my sincere thanks to Sir Nic Dakin MP and Alex Davies-Jones MP for their time today. Both listened intently to our concerns regarding licensing conditions, as well as the country’s homicide laws and sentencing. I truly believe it is unacceptable that conditions for killers released on license fail to prioritise the safety and peace of mind of victims and their loved ones. The government must work towards a system that ensures justice and protection, not one that perpetuates fear and inequity. Today’s meeting would not have been possible had Hetti and I not met Angela Rayner at the 10 Downing Street reception for the Pride of Britain Awards.”

Hetti Barkworth-Nanton said: “I would like to thank the Ministers for taking the time today to meet with Diana and I. Whilst it’s encouraging that Ministers are listening, and on many of our points we are aligned, I would strongly urge the Government to avoid at all costs making short term tweaks to our homicide laws or sentencing it must be looked at as a whole. Making swift changes in this area is fraught with unintended consequences – something that had a direct bearing on the outcome we had from Robert Brown’s trial following swift and piecemeal changes implemented by the last Labour government off the back of the Law Commission review of 2006. Homicide victims and their loved ones are having to live with the consequences of a fragmented justice system”.