As she supports the grieving mother’s campaign to close a deadly legal loophole in domestic violence cases, Spice Girl Mel B tells Prime Minister Keir Starmer what she really, really wants.
A mother whose two children were assassinated by their own father during a court-approved access visit has her support.
The Spice Girl and domestic abuse campaigner has endorsed Claire Throssell’s campaign to change family court guidelines after her sons were killed by her ex-husband when he deliberately set fire to the family home.
“Every day the government drags its heels on this, more and more women suffer – more and more women lose their lives, their kids, their future,” Mel said.
“Keir Starmer promised to do something about the violence against women,” he said in a letter to me. A complete strategy takes time, too. The truth is that survivors of domestic violence and refuges can’t wait for support, which can mean the difference between life and death.
Mel who has previously spoken of her own experience of domestic abuse, added: “Claire is one of the bravest women I know. She campaigns so hard but is living with heartbreak every day as her two sons were killed by her abuser, their own father – we cannot let this happen to anyone else.”
After their evil father, Darren Sykes, lured them to the attic of their family home in Penistone, near Sheffield, their son, Jack, 12, and brother Paul, both 9, died, before igniting the house in October 2014, their evil father put them to sleep in the attic.
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After igniting 14 separate fires around the house, he died in the fire but not before making sure his sons wouldn’t survive.
Claire, 53, had repeatedly warned social workers, the courts, and Cafcas – whose role is to represent the interests of children and young people in the family courts – that her abusive ex was capable of murder. Yet he was granted unsupervised access to his months and within months had killed them.
In 2016 Claire started the Child First campaign, supported by Women’s Aid, calling for guidelines in the family courts to be changed. The petition has now received over 110,000 signatures.
The heartbroken mum has now received the support of MPs to end the ‘presumption of contact’ – a family courts guideline that says children should spend time with both parents, even if there is a history of domestic abuse.
In January, Labour MP Marie Tidball, led a debate calling for a change in the law to remove the family court’s presumption of contact.
The family courts were already finding children were being put in danger by the HARM Panel’s report, which was released in 2020.
Another 19 children in England and Wales have been killed by a parent, or parental figure, who was granted access to them despite being the victims of domestic abuse, according to a recent Women’s Aid report.
According to the harrowing Nineteen More Child Homicides report, the oldest child was 11 and the youngest was three-weeks-old. In all but one case, a man killed 15 children by their own fathers, and the killer was a man.
The charity, which tracks child homicides, claims 67 children have died at the hands of perpetrators of domestic abuse over the last 30 years. At the recent Labour Party Conference, Claire called on the Prime Minister, to ‘keep children’ safe’. She was supported by several MPs who have promised to support Claire.
In a bid to overturn the presumption of contact between known domestic abusers and their children, Marie Tidball promised to keep pushing for crucial changes in the family courts. According to her, “MP Matthew Patrick also expressed his support for raising public awareness and educating the public about financial and economic abuse.”
After giving Claire a copy of her book, For My Boys, Alex Davies-Jones MP, the Minister for Victims and Violence Against Women and Girls, gave her a hand. I was invisible, unheard, and unprotected while enduring domestic abuse, according to Claire. In the end, MPs are listening to me because my two gorgeous boys, Jack and Paul, were taken from me in the cruelest of ways.
It means a lot to me, I can’t express in words. Uma Kumara, the Labour MP for Stratford and Bow, promised to order the book, and Emily Darlington MP said she hoped my book would inspire others.
In his final moments, Claire finds strength in reliving Jack’s bravery. She remarked, “In an effort to save Paul’s life, he pulled his brother from the attic hatchway with his strength.” As the fire fighters cradled him in their arms, Jack said, “My dad did this and he did it on purpose.”
Because I never let Paul pass away, my eldest son died believing he had saved his brother’s life.
Claire’s book, For My Boys, is out now. With a foreword from Mel B, it tells the story of Jack and Paul and calls on the government to change the presumption of contact guidelines. To order For My Boys published by Mirror Books, click here.
If you or a loved one needs help with a toxic relationship visit www.womensaid.org.uk, call Samaritans on 116 123, or call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247 (free phone run by Refuge) / The Men’s Advice Line, for male domestic abuse survivors – 0808 801 0327 (run by Respect). In an emergency, always call 999.
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