Murder teen's mum calls for 'hidden homicide' data

The mother of a teenager who was murdered by her ex-partner is campaigning for the government to include "hidden homicides" in their data collections.

Carole Gould, mother of Ellie Gould, 17, who was stabbed to death at home in Calne, Wiltshire, in 2019, said "hidden homicides" were not reported in official statistics.

Unlike her daughter's murder, Ms Gould said hidden homicides were deaths that appeared to be an accident or suicide for example falls from a height or down stairs, which might actually be murder by an abusive partner.

The Home Office said police forces would first need to record this specific dataset before it and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) could include the information in their own data.

Ms Gould started the charity Killed Women along with Jhiselle Feanny, who said they wanted to ensure the data collation for these suspicious deaths involving women was "where it should be".

"Unfortunately, hidden homicides aren't reported in terms of our official national statistics," she said.

"Currently, women are unfortunately killed every two to three days in the UK."

She added: "Research tells us that there are at least another 130 cases a year, but that is just the tip of the iceberg."

Ms Feanny continued: "This year we're going to continue to campaign in respect of hidden homicides, but we also really want to ensure that the data collation is where it should be."

Ms Gould co-founded the charity after her daughter's killer, Thomas Griffiths, was jailed for a shorter period compared to an adult defendant because he was 17 years old at the time.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years and six months after admitting murder.

Ms Gould said: "We came together as a group of bereaved families who have lost a loved one from fatal male violence, we just decided that we should have a voice because we ultimately have been the ones on the frontline of so many failures.

"We haven't yet achieved everything that we set out that we wanted to do."

The charity will relaunch its Fallen Women campaign, which highlights hidden homicides, in spring.

At the end of 2024, Ms Gould was appointed an OBE for her work co-founding the charity and for her efforts strengthening domestic violence laws.

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