Frome mother calls for tougher sentences for domestic murders

A FROME mother, whose daughter was murdered at home by her ex-boyfriend, is campaigning to change the law and introduce tougher minimum prison sentences for domestic murders. 

Julie Devey’s daughter, 24-year-old Poppy Devey Waterhouse, was stabbed to death in 2018 – Poppy’s ex-boyfriend, Joe Atkinson, was sentenced to 16 years 2 months in prison for her murder. 

But Poppy’s mother, Julie, has highlighted that if the murder had taken place outside the home, and the weapon taken to the scene, Poppy’s killer would have faced a minimum prison sentence of 25 years. 

“Schedule 21, section 5A outlines that if a weapon is taken to the scene of a crime then it carries a 25-year minimum tariff sentence,” explains Julie. “If the murder weapon is deemed to already be AT the scene of the crime, it carries a minimum tariff of 15 years.  

“Judges can use mitigating and aggravating factors to move the sentence term up or down from those, but usually only moves a couple of years if anything. But the most common term is 16 years for domestic homicide. 

“We feel that it is diminishing the lives of those people that have been killed. This is happening all the time and it’s insulting for those people who have lost their lives in that way, to automatically be seen as ’10 years less’. 

“The tag ‘domestic’ dumbs down the crime, it dumbs down the violence and the attack, and how dangerous these people are.” 

Julie has joined forces with Carole Gould, whose daughter Ellie Gould was murdered in her home in 2019 at the age of 17 by her ex-boyfriend Thomas Griffiths, to campaign to change the law and raise awareness about the “injustice”. 

For their campaign, Julie and Carole have received the support of some MPs and officials, including Labour MP and Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding, Jess Phillips, and Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs. 

And the pair are hopeful that the law could soon be changed, with MPs currently debating a new crime bill in parliament – the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. 

“They [the government] have agreed that they are going to change the sentencing,” said Julie. “but we don’t know how they will change it.” 

The two mothers have also recently appeared in a short documentary, ‘The Changes That We Can Make’, made by Levi James, who went to Frome College with Poppy. 

The documentary, in which Julie and Carole are interviewed about their campaign, was screened last week at the Merlin Theatre and is now available to watch online. 

“It was a very emotional screening,” said Julie. “People were and are horrified that this is the law and agree that it should be changed. 

“Hopefully the campaign and this film helps to raise awareness about the imbalance between how crimes are punished. 

“This was never meant to be our world – we never saw this happening. It came completely out of the blue, and it can happen to anyone. 

“We will never be able to bring our daughters back and we miss them every minute of every day. We are now broken, as are their fathers and brothers.  

“We will not be able to change the sentence of Griffiths or Atkinson but we can change sentencing of murderers in the future and at least help families like ours in this way.  

“But nothing makes up for the catastrophic loss of our children though.” 

To watch the 15-minute film, ‘The Changes That We Can Make’, visit the website: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhBEbMQbIG8