On 31 October 2025, Killed Women launched a campaign to confront systemic failures that leave Black, minoritised and migrant (BMM) abuse victims and families unprotected and without justice. The campaign — INVISIBLE WOMEN — demands accountability, visibility and systemic reform across policing, Domestic Abuse-Related Death Reviews, inquests and support services.

INVISIBLE WOMEN is a family-led campaign founded by KW Co-Founder Jhiselle Feanny with support from Dr. Hannana Siddiqui of Southall Black Sisters. The campaign brings together the bereaved families of BMM women killed through domestic abuse and fatal male violence, both in public spaces and in the home.

The campaign launched with the release of:

●  The FILM Invisible Women: We Were Here, Where Were You?

●  The PLEDGE Invisible Women: We Were Here, Where Were You?

● The REPORT Invisible Women “Made Visible”: Learning from the Femicides of Black, Minoritised and Migrant Women

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CAMPAIGN PLEDGE - INVISIBLE WOMEN: WE WERE HERE, WHERE WERE YOU?

INVISIBLE WOMEN wants justice and a government commitment to culturally competent, anti-racist practice and to amplifying bereaved families’ calls for change. By making your pledge you affirm your commitment to help us:

●  See and honour our women: Amplify bereaved families’ voices, and share the film, the report and the campaign in general, with the hashtags #InvisibleWomen #WeWereHere #WhereWereYou

●  Change practice: Commit to anti-racist, culturally competent responses across policy, policing and support, and remove barriers such as NRPF; while challenging institutional racism, bias and neglect.

●  Support: Back specialist ‘by and for’ services.

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Melanie Brown MBE, campaigner:
“This important campaign challenges racism and discrimination in policing and policy. We know it happens and it is up to us all to take action and call for much-needed changes. Last week I met some of the families who have lost their loved ones. Their stories devastated me but their courage to fight in the face of their grief just blew me away. It is so important that everybody joins us in this campaign and does everything they can to support them.”

On Tuesday 14 October, Carole Gould and Jhiselle Feanny of Killed Women attended and spoke at a roundtable in Parliament organised by Amnesty Feminists and Make It Mandatory, where we heard powerful testimony about what the gap in teaching Relationships and Sexuality Education from the ages of 16-18 costs us.

At 'RSE to 18 – A Call to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls' we heard from educators who see it and from young people who’ve lived it.

Extending #RSEto18 is the bare minimum our government must do to deliver on their promise of halving violence against women and girls.

On Tuesday 30 September, Killed Women’s co-founders Carole Gould and Julie Devey went to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, to speak at the Rally Against Violence Towards Women and Girls.

They outlined two of KW’s current campaigns, which echo Queen Camilla’s comments that combatting VAWG must start with education followed by a robust judicial response: to extend Relationships and Sex Education in schools to 16-18-year-olds; and to level up the appalling and insulting 10-year disparity in sentencing for homicides committed inside the home (where the victims are predominantly women) and those committed outside, where a weapon has been ‘taken to the scene’.

Carole and Julie urged the government to act on these matters with urgency.

Carole’s closing remarks were: “Violence against women and girls is not inevitable. We cannot keep waiting for change, as lives are being lost and families are left shattered. We need to act now. You are the government and you have the power to make these societal changes happen.”

Reminding the members of the audience to make their voices heard by the Law Commission, who have been asked by the Ministry of Justice to review the law relating to homicide offences, Julie said: “We don’t want to just see a room full of people nodding and feeling sorry for us, we want people to take action, to respond.”

Faustine Petron, who started the Make It Mandatory campaign for increased relationship education, was herself a victim of domestic abuse before her ex boyfriend was sent to jail. Her campaign says Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), which is already taught in primary and secondary schools, should be extended to colleges and sixth forms. Over 105,000 people have signed her petition, which was delivered to Downing Street on 16 June.

Killed Women co-founder Carole Gould, whose 17-year-old daughter Ellie was stabbed to death by a fellow student at her school (also 17 at the time) after she ended their relationship of three months, helped to deliver Faustine's petition as an expression of KW’s support for the campaign.

For more information about the campaign and to sign the petition, please see Faustine’s page on Change.org: ‘Ask the government to help prevent domestic abuse through education‘

The Domestic Homicide Project was established by police and government in England and Wales to collect, review, and share quick time learning from all police-recorded domestic homicides, unexpected deaths and suspected suicides of individuals with a history of Domestic Abuse victimisation.

The Project’s Year 4 Report has recorded 1,012 deaths since 1 April 2020 (to 31 March 2024). These include: 501 domestic homicides (332 intimate partner homicides and 169 adult family homicides); 354 suspected victim suicides following domestic abuse; 71 unexpected deaths; 61 child deaths; 25 deaths classified as ‘other’ (such as lodger/flatmate). 262 deaths were recorded in Year 4 (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024).

Intimate partner homicides have remained relatively stable over the course of the 4 years of data collection, highlighting the need for government to take action to prevent these deaths from happening.

For the second year running, deaths by suicide among victims of domestic abuse surpassed the number of people killed by an intimate partner.

Analysis into deaths where someone had fallen from a height is presented too, carried out in collaboration with Killed Women. 22 cases were recorded in this category with 20 of the suspects (of 23) recorded as being in an intimate relationship with the victim.

Greater awareness of the link between suicide and domestic abuse, plus revised guidance related to unexpected deaths is more likely to explain the increase in numbers rather than an empirical rise in cases.

However, as National Police Chiefs'​ Council Lead for Domestic Abuse Louisa Rolfe recognises, a step up in police investigations is needed so that domestic abuse is always a key line of inquiry.

Jess Phillips MP, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls has said that those responsible for these women’s deaths must be ‘held accountable’, the women killed ‘deserve justice’ and the bereaved families left behind ‘deserve better’.

On Thursday 6th March Killed Women were at Westminster to hear Jess Phillips MP read out the names of the 95 women and girls known to have been killed by a man in the past twelve months, as she has done for the past ten years, to mark International Women's Day.

Yesterday she did so for the first time from the front benches as a Home Office Minister. In another first she also recognised the women whose names do not make it onto the list:

"We remember the list of women who died from suicide, or in unclear, sinister and hidden circumstances where we know there was a history of domestic abuse or sexual violence. Those women's names will not make it on to this list, because nobody has ever been held accountable for their deaths. Today I promise that we are working on these hidden homicides. They deserve better. They deserve justice."

January 2025. Killed Women extend our deepest sympathies and thoughts to the family and friends of Kiena Dawes. Her tragic death highlights the systemic failings in supporting women experiencing domestic abuse and the urgent need for change.

Women who have experienced prior trauma and domestic abuse are at greater risk of mental health struggles. This reality demands better support, timely intervention, and a society that ensures no woman feels trapped without escape.

Too many women continue to suffer in silence, navigating systems that fail to protect them. This must end. We call for stronger preventative measures, immediate action when abuse is reported, and a commitment to addressing the systemic barriers that put women’s lives at risk.

Kiena’s death must drive meaningful change. Women’s lives matter, and we must work towards a future where every woman is safe, supported, and heard.

Killed Women took part in the "16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence" campaign in November-December 2024.

On each day we remembered a woman or women/girls (from the many hundreds which - tragically - we could have chosen), killed at the hands of violent men in the UK:

Banaz Mahmood; Kelly Fitzgibbons, and her daughters Ava and Lexi; Joanne Tulip; Raneem Oudeh and Khoala Saleem; Gemma Marjoram; Harshita Brella; Claire Tavener (Willmott); Julie Butcher; Jan Mustafa; Megan Newborough; Joanna Simpson; Elinor O'Brien; Ellie Gould; Holly Newton; Fawziyah Javed; Poppy Devey Waterhouse

On Day Five we highlighted 5 essential facts about femicide:
1. Women and girls are most likely to be killed by those closest to them.
2. Femicide is a universal problem.
3. The true scale of femicide is likely much higher than the numbers show.
4. Some groups of women and girls face greater risk. Women in the public eye, including those in politics, women human rights defenders, and journalists are often targets of deliberate acts of violence, both online and offline, with some leading to fatal outcomes and intentional killings.
And finally,
5. Femicide can and must be prevented.

Enough is enough. There are no excuses.

December 2024. Whilst Killed Women welcome the proposed wholesale reform of sentencing for homicides, and we acknowledge that the implementation of statutory ‘aggravating factors’ for strangulation and ending a relationship is a step forward, we know from our own cases that these aggravating factors carry no significant weighting in sentencing - perhaps a year for each factor at most.

By only using the aggravating factor route to potentially harsher sentences, the government are continuing to say that domestic murderers ARE NOT as dangerous as those who murder strangers outside the home. During a recent meeting with Minister Alex Davies-Jones and Minister Sir Nic Dakin, we had the impression that they agreed with us that the two types of murderer were equally dangerous. The measures they are proposing today do not, however, reflect this.

It is therefore disappointing that the Government are delaying the equalisation of sentencing for homicides that take place in the home to be on a par with homicides in the street. The former disproportionally apply to women and, with all the rhetoric about halving violence against women and girls, it is hard to comprehend why the Government are not backing our campaign to put these dangerous offenders behind bars for longer. We believe that families should play a crucial role throughout the process of any changes being made to sentencing, as they know first-hand the impact and devastation that these murders create.

We understand the counter argument about not wanting women who have been victims of domestic violence to receive the same tougher sentencing if they become perpetrators, but in such cases these women should be exempted from the sentencing guidelines on the grounds of diminished responsibility or self defence.

This would require training for judges, barristers and police, for them to acquire a better understanding of why women kill, which would take only months rather than years. Once the judiciary have this deeper understanding, they will be better placed to inform juries, who have to consider evidence but do not have the tools to do so at present.

It is distressing for us to realise that, despite all the meetings and conversations that we have held over the past five years with both sides of the House, Domestic Murders are still not considered to have the same level of severity as murders by strangers.

The continued absence of any proper plan by the Government to tackle this inequality in sentencing is appalling. The fact that the Ministry of Justice continues to simply try to use aggravating factors to bring Domestic Homicides in line with other murders under the banner of “tougher sentences”, demonstrates that victims and victims’ families are not a priority for this Government.

We will continue to campaign on behalf of victims and their families to make the change that’s needed.

Julie, Carole and Elaine

Killed Women’s Black & Blue Plaques: ‘Killed Here’ campaign, launched in December 2024, calls on the new Labour Government to uphold the Conservatives’ commitment to change the outdated and misogynistic UK domestic homicide sentencing laws in support of murdered women and their families.

On average, in the UK perpetrators who kill in the home using a weapon kept in the home receive a sentence with a minimum prison term (starting tariff) before being considered for parole, of around ten years less than those killed out of home, due to out-of-date laws. 

One woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK - and in most of these cases they are murdered by people they know, and the murders are generally horrific in nature and involve overkill. However, the final blow for families is often in the sentencing, when the criminal justice system deems their loved ones' lives are worth ten years less. 

Killed Women calls for Sir Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood, the Lord Chancellor, to urgently include this crucial issue in the Government’s agenda.

“We want the symbolism of these plaques to raise this issue in the House of Commons. The Government showed a refreshing approach to the riots this summer and we want this issue to be granted the same attention, in honouring the pledges made by the previous Government. 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.”

Each bespoke Black & Blue Plaque includes the woman's name, their life span, and then the words: 'Killed here', the sentence given, and 'Murder is murder, change the law'.

Read Press Reports

March 2024. Killed Women’s Fallen Women campaign calls for the deaths of all women who have fallen from a height to be reviewed by police to identify whether domestic abuse may have been a feature.

We want official data collection to track the number of women who die after falling from a height each year, and believe that domestic abuse should be a key line of inquiry for police in all such cases.

Criminologist Professor Jane Monckton Smith estimates there are around 130 primarily female victims killed every year in England and Wales whose deaths are not investigated or prosecuted as homicides.

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The campaign opening coincided with the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Push: Murder on the Cliff’, which follows the case of Fawziyah Javed, who died after being pushed off Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh by her husband in 2021.

Fawziyah’s mother Yasmin, a member of the Killed Women network, said: ‘Domestic abusers will continue to get away with murder if we don’t ensure the cases of so-called fallen women are rigorously investigated by authorities. We must have a system that delivers justice for these women.’

‘The Push’ has won ‘Best Programme’ at the Asian Media Awards and ‘Best Documentary Series’ at the Grierson Awards. This telling of Fawziyah’s story has helped people leave abusive relationships and saved lives around the world.

During 2023, Killed Women and research organisation Ipsos conducted an anonymous survey for relatives of women killed by male violence.

The aim of the survey was to better understand the experiences of bereaved families and what changes must be made to ensure women are protected, families supported and justice delivered.

The findings from the survey have now been collated into a report (entitled ‘YOU WERE TOLD: A Voice for Killed Women’), published and shared with the public at our Westminster event on 5th December 2023, entitled The Final Protest.

Be a voice for Killed Women and demand change. Click on the button below to access the report - and send it to your MP.

This consultation, published by the Ministry of Justice, considered:

- raising starting points for killings with a history of coercive and controlling abuse or with a weapon;

- and whether murderers who use a knife or other weapon already at the crime scene should also face steeper starting points – which would result in higher minimum jail terms in these cases.

Julie Devey, Carole Gould and Elaine Newborough of Killed Women discuss these - and related - issues in a short film entitled

‘The Change That’s Needed’

These three mothers of Killed Women were interviewed by Julie Etchingham for ITV’s Tonight programme on Thursday 22 February:

‘Murdered at Home’

CONSULTATION CLOSED 4 MARCH 2024

The Ministry of Justice is now considering its response to the public consultation following 5,200 responses.

Contact numbers in a crisis:

We are reaching out to other families of women killed by men who might want to join the Killed Women network.

If you are a bereaved relative please email us at info@killedwomen.org for more information or click on the button below.

Your donation will help families elevate their voice and build this organisation, to create a legacy of change that ensures justice and protection for women in the future.