Mother of murdered Ellie Gould, 17, demands ’25-year starting point’ for killers using excessive or gratuitous violence amid plans to impose tougher sentences on thugs with a history of coercive or controlling behaviour
- Carole Gould has called for ’25-year starting point for overkill and strangulation’
- Her daughter’s killer was sentenced to a minimum 12 years and six months
The mother of murdered teenager Ellie Gould is pushing for ‘tougher sentencing’ against killers who use excessive force or strangle their victims.
Carole Gould has called on the Government to impose a ’25-year starting point for overkill and for strangulation’ after her daughter’s killer was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years and six months in prison.
Ellie was killed in May 2019 when her boyfriend Thomas Griffiths strangled stabbed her in the neck 13 times. He then arranged the scene to make it appear as though she had inflicted the fatal wounds herself.
Although the Government has announced plans for killers with a history of coercive or controlling behaviour against their victims to face tougher sentences, Carole today slammed Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, saying: ‘You’ve not quite cut it yet.’
The mother of murdered teenager Ellie Gould is pushing for ‘tougher sentencing’ against killers who use excessive force or strangle their victims. Ellie (left) is pictured with her mother Carole Gould (right)
Carole Gould, appearing on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme today, has called on the Government to impose a ’25-year starting point for overkill and for strangulation’
‘My husband came home in the afternoon and found his beloved daughter in a pool of blood on our kitchen floor,’ Carole, who co-founded the campaigning organisation Killed Women after the death of her daughter, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme today.
‘It’s horrendous and the sentence for that is 12-and-a-half years – 12-and-a-half years for the brutal murder of our precious daughter.
‘That is the justice system when it comes to violence against women and girls.’
Her comments follow the Government’s move to impose tougher sentences on killers with a history of coercive or controlling behaviour.
It said the use of excessive or gratuitous violence, sometimes referred to as ‘overkill’, is also set to be made an aggravating factor in sentencing decisions for murder.
The law will be changed after recommendations made by Clare Wade KC in an independent review into domestic homicide sentencing, which was commissioned in 2021.
But Carole is now using the review as a platform to push for legislation that will require killers who use excessive violence or strangle their victims to face a minimum sentence of 25 years.
Ellie was killed in May 2019 when her boyfriend Thomas Griffiths (pictured) strangled stabbed her in the neck 13 times
Griffiths, who murdered Ellie at her family home in Wiltshire (pictured), then arranged the scene to make it appear as though she had inflicted the fatal wounds herself
‘As a result of this Clare Wade review, we’re hoping to push through much tougher sentencing, and what I’d be saying to the Government now and Dominic Raab is “You’ve not quite cut it yet”.’ she said.
‘Just offering aggravating factors for overkill and for coercive controlling behaviour is not going to level up the sentencing.
‘What we want and we will be asking (justice) minister (Edward) Argar to consult on is a 25-year starting point for overkill and for strangulation because we have to remember that this is very much gendered violence, and it’s just not being recognised in the courts how dangerous these perpetrators are.’
Ellie, a keen horse rider, bravely attempted to fight Griffiths off after he attacked her with a kitchen knife at her family home.
He put his hands around her neck before stabbing her at least 13 times. Both were 17 years old at the time.
Domestic homicide is defined as a death that occurs due to violence, abuse or neglect by a partner, ex-partner, relative or member of the same household.
Ellie, (pictured) a keen horse rider, bravely attempted to fight Griffiths off after he attacked her with a kitchen knife at her family home. He put his hands around her neck before stabbing her at least 13 times
Controlling or coercive behaviour was introduced as a criminal offence in the Serious Crime Act 2015 and can include economic, emotional or psychological abuse and threats alongside physical or sexual violence.
More than half (51 per cent) of the murder cases looked at in the Wade Review involved controlling or coercive behaviour.
Earlier this month, Mr Raab said: ‘This Government will do everything we can to protect vulnerable women and keep in prison for longer those who attack or threaten them.
‘The changes I am announcing today will mean longer jail sentences for those who kill women in the home by taking greater account of the specific factors involved, whether it is controlling and coercive behaviour or cases involving particular savagery known as “overkill”.’
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