'Our murdered girls brought us together - now we're changing the law'

Carole Gould and Julie Devey became friends through tragic circumstances - their teenage daughters were both murdered at home by their ex-boyfriend.

Their meeting started a journey to change the law for families in the same position, with BBC West home affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin following their now-successful campaign.

I met Carole seven years ago, six months after her 17-year-old daughter Ellie Gould was murdered.

Carole left her daughter revising for her mock exams at home in Calne, Wiltshire, as she left for work on 3 May 2019. When she got home four hours later, the house was cordoned off with police tape, with officers guarding the door.

Carole knew something was very wrong but never imagined, as she fought her way into her home, that her daughter had been stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend Thomas Griffiths, who was 17 at the time.

Ellie and Griffiths had been at school together for years. He had celebrated Ellie's 17th birthday with the Gould family just months earlier.

The day before he murdered Ellie, she had ended their three-month relationship.

That morning his mum dropped him at school, but once there he emailed teachers saying he was ill. He caught the bus home and hid in his wardrobe until his mum had gone out.

Despite being a learner driver, he took the keys to the family car and drove to Ellie's house.

He strangled her before stabbing her repeatedly in the neck with a kitchen knife, leaving her hand on the knife handle.

Unbelievably, Carole told me Ellie had completed a piece of work before her death on whether child murderers should be punished.

"She got the results for that on the Monday and on the Friday she was murdered herself," Carole said.

"To me there is some message - Mum, you had to do that to save other young girls and women - and she'd be incredibly proud we did it."

Griffiths was jailed for 12-and-a-half years for killing Ellie.

"It just didn't seem right that a person who bought a knife and murdered a stranger on the street faced a 25-year starting point, whereas someone who murdered a partner or ex-partner at home with a kitchen knife faces a 15-year starting point," Carole said. "How is that justice?"

In 2019, Carole had never been interviewed by a journalist or argued her case with a politician, but that was soon to change.

On the night Griffiths started his prison sentence, BBC Points West broadcast a 30-minute programme about Ellie's life, led by Carole.

Sat at home watching from her sofa in Frome, Somerset, was Julie.

Her 24-year-old daughter Poppy Devey Waterhouse had been murdered five months before Ellie.

Poppy had been with her boyfriend Joe Atkinson for three years. When she ended the relationship, he was consumed by jealousy and attacked her with a kitchen knife at their flat. Joe was sent to prison for a minimum term of 15 years and 310 days.

Julie said she knew "exactly" what Carole was going through, because she was living it too.

"I had to reach out and it was amazing to hear straight back," she said.

"I knew we were going to make such a strong connection."

A few months later, Carole and Julie met and formed a close friendship. They founded the group Killed Women, campaigning for changes to domestic homicide sentencing.

"Once I found Julie there was a newfound strength. We linked arms and I thought 'I can do this'," Carole said.

For the next seven years, the pair met justice ministers, politicians and judges in London to try to persuade them to change the law.

Last month, Justice Secretary David Lammy announced plans to raise the minimum starting sentence for murdering a current or former partner to 25 years - in line with other premeditated killings.

"It didn't feel as if it would ever happen," said Carole.

"It has been a difficult seven years, we've met seven justice ministers, all with a sympathetic nodding.

"Until now, no justice minister has been bold enough to make the change.

"[It has been] a lot of sweat and tears but we've finally got it over the line," she continued.

The law change is subject to consultation with the Sentencing Council, but the Ministry of Justice said it would be introduced as soon as possible.

"Thomas Griffiths only got 12-and-a-half years for the brutal murder of Ellie," Carole said.

"With these changes, he would have got around 26 years."

Julie said Atkinson would have also got a little more than 26 years for Poppy's murder.

"It is not long left before they are free, but we won't ever be free," she said.

As a journalist I have followed every twist and turn of Carole and Julie's journey.

There were times it seemed impossible as they kept being knocked back, after hundreds of phone calls made, emails sent and meetings had.

There were times I feared nothing would change, but these mothers were absolutely determined, their daughters driving them on.

They always said it would be a marathon, not a sprint, and I am incredibly proud of what they have done.

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