Black and blue plaques honour the memories of women killed in the home

Back in March, The Guardian wrote a piece about the Killed Women Count, naming 50 women who had already been murdered in 2024 at the hands of violent men.

Harrowing and tragic.

But the most jarring and inconceivable statistic was this:

If a person is killed on the street with just one stab, the minimum sentence is 25 years imprisonment. But if someone is murdered at home, stabbed multiple times, or dismembered, the killer’s sentence starts at just 15 years. Owing to the location, the killings aren’t deemed ‘pre-meditated’ in the eyes of the law.

In the case of domestic homicides, the vast majority of victims are women. And their murderers, usually partners or ex-partners, had a history of violence and coercive control.

As a female creative director (with two sisters), led by a female founder (Nikki Collins) at Earnies, these issues felt incredibly close to home and all the more pressing.

And so, the notion of using English Heritage plaques as a visual symbol to talk about domestic homicides was born. But instead of their iconic blue, they turned ‘black and blue’, bruised and cut—a far cry from their usual celebratory function.

Armed with a creative concept and a cause, I approached Killed Women, an organisation and network supporting the bereaved families of women who were killed by men.

The answer was an immediate yes.

We have to do this.

How can we make it happen?

After weeks of conversations, supported and safeguarded by the incredible Killed Women team, seven families bravely stepped forward and told me their stories.

On one of the most memorable calls of my life, Julie Devey, Steve Willmott, Carole Gould, Ayse Hussein, Anthony and Elaine Newborough, and Emma King, told me what had happened to their daughters, sisters and loved ones. How they were murdered. And how unfathomably light the perpetrators sentence was. The final blow after the grief and destruction wrought by their killers.

Every single case involved ‘overkill’.

If their family members had just been killed in the garden, or in the street, a decade more would have been added to the sentence. But instead it happened in their homes, where everyone is meant to feel safest.

We worked together, with Nikki Collins (Earnies’ founder), to forge the lines that have become the backbone of the campaign. “Killed Here. [Sentence]. The same murder outside the home would get a decade more. Murder is murder, change the law.”

Those seven plaques - black, blue and bruised - were then placed on houses across the UK, before being taken to Westminster on September 17th to demand change.

MPs Caroline Nokes, Jess Phillips, Alex Davies-Jones and Jodie Gosling showed their support on the day, talking to the families and media about the pressing need to address this issue. There were emotional scenes, as they embraced the families and offered their condolences.

The story came full circle, when The Guardian became the first to cover our story.

Within the first 24 hours, the campaign was covered by: The Mirror, Channel 5, ITV News, Glamour, LBC, Good Morning Britain, and Jess Phillips MP’s IG Story, Yahoo News, MSN, Hits Radio.

This is not the end.

The plaques are now being taken across the country to apply pressure to local MPs, and push for the change that must happen. A petition will be created once the committee reopens, to get this issue at the top of the Government’s agenda.

Murder is murder, change the law.

Credits:

Lucy Baker, creative director
Sam Pilkington Miska, visual concept
Joe Davenport, photography
Earnies, who funded the campaign entirely, pro bono

Quotes from the families:

“We want the symbolism of these plaques to raise this issue in the House of Commons. While this won’t bring our loved ones home, at the very least, families of future victims will be consoled by the knowledge that justice has been served.”
Julie Devey, mother of Poppy Devey Waterhouse

“I suffer with PTSD as a result of our trauma but I’m determined to be my sister’s voice when it matters. This campaign will hit hard and we will push and push until someone listens. Thank you for listening. My sister is called Julie Butcher she is forever 25 years old.”
Emma King, sister of Julie Butcher

“The judicial system says it’s intent if you take a knife to the crime, however in our case, he murdered Megan in the lounge, went into a separate room, went into the kitchen to get a knife to nearly decapitate her - and you’re telling me that’s not intent?”
Anthony Newborough, father of Megan Newborough