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The Queen Consort will be by the King’s side when he is formally crowned next year.

Camilla will also be anointed and crowned during the ceremony for King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023.

What will happen at the King’s coronation?

While plans for his investiture have been in place since his mother’s coronation in 1953, her part was only confirmed when during her Platinum Jubilee the Queen declared Camilla would be known as Queen Consort on King Charles’s accession.

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla wave to people after viewing the  tributes at Hillsborough Castle, following the death of Queen Elizabeth, at Royal Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

‘A similar, but simpler ceremony’

Following the King’s six-part coronation ceremony, the Queen Consort will have her own one.

According to the Royal Family’s website: “A Queen Consort is crowned with the King, in a similar, but simpler ceremony.”

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The last Queen Consort to be crowned was the Queen Mother alongside King George VI in 1937.

The Archbishop of Canterbury anointed her head with holy oil – a ritual also carried out with the monarch.

The Queen’s ring was then placed on her hand, her crown on her head, before she was presented with a sceptre and an ivory rod.

It ended with her bowing “reverently” to her husband.

Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned.

Why is Camilla Queen Consort?

File photo dated 09/04/2005 of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, leave St George's Chapel, Windsor, following the blessing of their wedding. The Queen has used her Platinum Jubilee message to the nation to back the Duchess of Cornwall as Queen Camilla, shaping the future of the monarchy on her historic milestone. Issue date: Sunday February 6, 2022.

When the King and Queen Consort married in 2005 – eight years after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales – she let it be known that she intended to use the title “princess consort”. It would be a first in the history of the British monarchy.

The decision was seen as an acknowledgment that the public was finding it difficult to accept her new role, after years of speculation in the media over their affair, the bitter divorce of Charles and Diana, and Diana’s death in 1997.

For the same reason, upon marrying King Charles, who was Prince of Wales at the time, she decided not to use the Princess of Wales title, which had been used by Diana.

Instead, she chose the Duchess of Cornwall, styling herself on her husband’s other title the Duke of Cornwall, which is always given to the heir presumptive.

Reflecting on the negative press she received during that period, in an interview with British Vogue, Camilla admitted it “wasn’t easy”.

“I was scrutinised for such a long time that you just have to find a way to live with it,” she said.

“Nobody likes to be looked at all the time and, you know, criticised… but I think in the end, I sort of rise above it and get on with it.”

Civil wedding

Britain's Prince Charles, and his bride Camilla  Duchess of Cornwall, at front centre, with the Duke of Edinburgh, front right, with other members of the Royal Family as they  leave St George's Chapel in Windsor, England following the church blessing of their civil wedding ceremony, Saturday, April 9, 2005. The members of the Royal Family  standing behind Prince Charles and the Duchess are from left, Princess Eugenie, Prince Andrew, Princess Beatrice, Princess Anne, Peter Phillips. Prince Harry,

At the time, there were also legal questions surrounding the validity of the couple’s civil wedding – which might have added to the decision to opt for princess consort.

They married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. But under the Marriage Acts 1753 the only type of marriage valid for a member of the Royal Family is a religious one.

In 2005, the Lord Chancellor sought to defend the validity of their marriage, but Palace aides feared that breaking precedent could have meant more unwanted legal challenges over other titles in the future.

Princess Consort or Queen Consort?

According to common law, wives of kings are known as queen consorts, but the husbands of queens only prince consorts.

As a result, the Duke of Edinburgh was known as Prince Philip – and not given the title of King when he married the Queen.

He did not have his own coronation, but ‘paid homage’ to his wife during her ceremony instead.

Camilla becomes more popular

The Duchess of Cornwall meets members of the public during a visit to Lincoln Farmers Market in Christchurch, on the seventh day of the royal visit to New Zealand.

After the wedding, Camilla’s popularity started to grow – and so did calls by her supporters to make her Queen Consort.

A YouGov poll carried out in late 2021 ranked her as the 10th most popular royal, beating Prince Andrew, whose popularity plummeted due to his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Royal author Penny Junor said: “The problem with Camilla was that she was involved with the Prince of Wales and was what Diana famously called the third person in the marriage.”

But she added: “When she then married him, she was out and about and people met her. They realised that actually, she wasn’t this ghastly woman, a rottweiler, she was actually very nice.

“She’s funny, she’s warm, she’s friendly, she’s self-deprecating, she’s interested in other people.”

Royal observers also noted she took on more responsibilities after Andrew, Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties.

The King is long thought to have favoured the title of Queen Consort. According to Sky News royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills, while the issue hadn’t occupied his mind “on a weekly basis”, it was nonetheless “something he wanted addressed”.

The debate over Camilla’s title could have also acted as an unwelcome distraction at the start of his reign, she adds.

Queen’s Jubilee statement ended years of uncertainty

Queen Elizabeth II (left) and Duchess of Cornwall during the royal procession during day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse.

In February 2022, as her Platinum Jubilee celebrations got under way, the Queen surprised the nation by announcing that Camilla would be known as Queen Consort when Charles III took the throne.

She said in a statement: “When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when the time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.”

This effectively put an end to nearly two decades of uncertainty over her position within the Royal Family.

It also served as a way to thank Camilla for years of royal duties – and as recognition the public had warmed to her in that time.

Rhiannon Mills commented: “The Queen clearly wanted to use this opportunity to thank Camilla who over the past 17 years has rolled her sleeves up, embraced the sometimes less glamorous royal engagements and in Her Majesty’s eyes shown herself to be a worthy future consort, in the mould of Prince Philip and the Queen Mother.”

What will her role be?

The Duchess of Cornwall, Patron of BookTrust, reading to schoolchildren during her visit to Griffin Primary School, Nine Elms, London, with Waterstones Children's Laureate, Cressida Cowell (right) to open the new 'Life-changing Library'. Picture date: Tuesday June 21, 2021.

The Queen Consort has taken on a number of causes in recent years, such as raising awareness of domestic violence, sexual abuse or illiteracy.

But royal observers say her main role will be supporting the new King.

“She is to Charles what Prince Philip was to Elizabeth. She is not in competition with him. She is there purely to support him,” said Ms Junor, the royal author.

In her 2022 British Vogue interview Camilla said that balancing her marriage to Charles with their royal work “is not easy sometimes”, but the couple always make sure to “sit down together and have a cup of tea and discuss the day”.

Constitutional expert Craig Prescott described her as the King’s “secret weapon, or not so secret weapon”.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, during a visit to St MaryÕs Quayside, on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Picture date: Tuesday July 20, 2021.

He said: “She has become sort of one of the more interesting members of the Royal Family, taking up interest in causes, domestic violence, the importance of childhood reading, the importance of live theatre during the pandemic, and sort of the need to speak up for the creative industries.

“Despite the difficulty she had in the 90s with the media, she seems very open, very relaxed – and that might be sort of actually the model that the monarchy will take in the future.”

Sir Peter Westmacott, former deputy private secretary of King Charles, also noted the strong bond in the royal couple.

“She has made such a difference to his life all this time. He adores her and vice versa,” he said.

“It is an invaluable partnership.”

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Triple killer convicted of raping ex-girlfriend ‘in act of spite’ before murdering her

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Triple killer convicted of raping ex-girlfriend 'in act of spite' before murdering her

A former soldier has been found guilty of raping his ex-girlfriend during a four-hour attack in which he killed her, her mother and her sister.

Warning: This article contains distressing details.

Kyle Clifford, 26, previously admitted murdering BBC racing commentator John Hunt’s wife Carol Hunt, 61, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.

He also pleaded guilty to false imprisonment of Louise, who was tied and gagged with duct tape, and possession of the crossbow used to kill her and her sister, and the 10-inch butcher’s knife he stabbed their mother to death with.

strict embargo until a verdict is delivered
Kyle Clifford trial
Pic: Hertfordshire Police
Image:
Kyle Clifford. Pic: Hertfordshire Police

Prosecutors said he raped Louise in an “act of spite” during the attack in the Hunt family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on 9 July last year after she broke up with him 13 days earlier.

Clifford, who refused to attend the four-day trial at Cambridge Crown Court, claimed DNA evidence found on her body was from a consensual sexual encounter 16 days before the attack.

But he was found guilty by a jury after the court heard his explanation was “completely untenable”.

Louise
Pic: Facebook
Image:
Louise Hunt
Pic: Facebook

There was applause from the public gallery and cries of “yes!”, with one woman pumping her fists and another woman crying as the guilty verdict was heard.

The court was told Clifford began planning the murders after Louise, who told a friend he had a “nasty temper”, ended their 18-month relationship in a message on 26 June.

Judge pays tribute to family of the victims

Mr Justice Joel Bennathan said he will sentence Clifford on Tuesday for his “dreadful” and “almost unspeakable” crimes.

The judge paid tribute to the family of the deceased, adding: “They conducted themselves with huge dignity and restraint and I pay tribute to them.”

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Gardner said Clifford’s failure to attend his trial was an “absolute act of cowardice”.

He pointed out that the trial had been held in Cambridge to meet Clifford’s accessibility needs – he required a wheelchair after he shot himself with the crossbow.

“He has put the family through the ordeal of the trial, he has created everything that’s happened over this past week and failing to show his face is completely cowardly,” he added.

Carol Hunt pictured with her husband John Hunt.
Pic: Facebook
Image:
Carol Hunt pictured with her husband John Hunt.
Pic: Facebook

Hannah
Pic: Facebook
Image:
Hannah Hunt. Pic: Facebook

Clifford ‘planned a terrible attack’

Louise’s friends and family, who had described Clifford as “odd”, and “disrespectful, rude and arrogant”, backed her decision to end the relationship, sparked by his behaviour at a friend’s wedding.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Clifford, who had hidden relationships with two other women from Louise, was “angered” that she rebuffed his attempts to get back together.

“The defendant planned a terrible attack on Louise Hunt and her family, enraged by her rejection of him,” she told jurors during the trial.

“That attack included an act of sexual violence, committed out of spite, when she was restrained and unable to escape him.”

Read more
CCTV released shows timeline of crossbow and knife killer
Kyle Clifford pleads guilty to murders of racing commentator’s wife and daughters
Violent misogyny of kind promoted by Andrew Tate ‘fuelled rape and triple murder’

The  recovered crossbow.
Pic: Hetfordshire Police
Image:
The recovered crossbow.
Pic: Hertfordshire Police

She said the murders were “carefully planned and executed”, with Clifford tricking his way inside the family home on the pretext of returning Louise’s belongings and delivering a “thank you” card to her parents after checking Mr Hunt was not home.

He carried out “a brutal knife attack” on Carol, then waited for his ex-girlfriend to return home from working at her dog grooming business in a pod in the garden, the court heard.

It was added that customers of Louise’s business were using the gate at the side of the house, “not realising what was happening” when Carol was attacked and killed.

Louise was held for hours before Clifford shot her with the crossbow moments before her sister Hannah, a beautician, came home from work.

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Footage shows Clifford fleeing the Hunt family home

Hannah is heard on audio at the Hunt family home saying: “Kyle, I swear to God,” after finding him inside the house, the court heard.

The prosecution said Hannah messaged her partner, Alex Klein, telling him to “call police… immediately. To mine. Now. Kyle here. Police now. He’s tying us up”.

Clifford’s own sister messaged him on the day of the attacks when she realised he had taken the crossbow, asking: “What are you playing at?”

A loud whooshing sound was caught on a doorbell camera as the weapon was fired, while Hannah could be heard to shout, “Oh my god”, as she found her mother and sister.

The 10-inch butcher's knife Clifford used to commit the murders was never found but police released an image of the packaging.
Pic: PA
Image:
The 10-inch butcher’s knife Clifford used was never found but police released an image of the packaging.
Pic: PA


She was also shot but managed to call police, and emergency services found her collapsed in the doorway, but she died soon after.

Clifford, who served in the army from 2019 to 2022, shot himself in the chest with a crossbow as armed police found him in a cemetery the next day after a manhunt and is now paralysed from the chest downwards.

Violent misogyny promoted by the likes of Andrew Tate fuelled Clifford’s attack, prosecutors argued in court.

He also had been searching YouTube for the controversial influencer’s podcast the day before he carried out the four-hour attack, it was said in legal argument ahead of his trial.

It can only now be reported because the judge excluded the evidence from the trial, saying that it was of “limited relevance” and too prejudicial.

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Kyle Clifford: Violent misogyny of kind promoted by Andrew Tate ‘fuelled rape and triple murder’, prosecution says

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Kyle Clifford: Violent misogyny of kind promoted by Andrew Tate 'fuelled rape and triple murder', prosecution says

The violent misogyny promoted by the likes of Andrew Tate fuelled a former soldier’s rape of his ex-girlfriend and the murder of her along with her mother and sister, the prosecution argued in court.

Warning: This article contains distressing details.

Kyle Clifford, 26, had been searching YouTube for the 38-year-old controversial influencer’s podcast the day before he carried out the four-hour attack, it was said in legal argument ahead of his trial.

It can only now be reported because Judge Mr Justice Bennathan excluded the evidence from the trial, saying that it was of “limited relevance” and too prejudicial.

But he added that anyone who takes a close interest in Tate, a “poster boy for misogynists”, could also be seen as a misogynist.

Clifford tricked his way inside the family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on 9 July last year on the pretext of returning a bag of 25-year-old Louise Hunt’s clothes 13 days after she dumped him.

He made sure her father, the BBC and Sky Sports racing commentator John Hunt, wasn’t home before stabbing her mother Carol Hunt, 61, to death with a 10-inch butchering knife.

Clifford laid in wait for more than an hour until Louise returned from work at the dog grooming business she ran from a pod in the garden, tied her arms and ankles with duct tape, gagged her and raped her.

Carol Hunt and her daughters Hannah and Louise.
Pic: Facebook
Image:
Carol Hunt and her daughters Hannah and Louise.
Pic: Facebook

He held her captive for hours before shooting her through the chest with a crossbow, using the same weapon to kill her sister Hannah Hunt, a 28-year-old beauty therapist, when she returned home minutes later.

Clifford pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, false imprisonment, and two counts of possession of offensive weapons but denied raping Louise – claiming the DNA found on her body was from 16 days earlier.

He has now been found guilty of the charge by a jury at Cambridge Crown Court.

Interest in Andrew Tate

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CCTV shows Clifford’s movements

Clifford had been searching YouTube for Tate’s podcast the day before the murders and is believed to have watched up to 10 of the influencer’s videos.

One of Louise Hunt’s friends had previously asked why he was watching one of Tate’s videos involving drugged animals and he said: “Because it’s funny,” it was said during legal argument before the trial.

Prosecutors argued the “violent misogyny promoted by Tate” was the same kind that “fuelled both the murders” and the rape” committed by Clifford.

Alison Morgan KC said his interest in the “widely known misogynist” helped to explain why he became so “incandescent with rage” after she ended the relationship.

Andrew Tate speaks to reporters after arriving in Florida. Pic: AP
Image:
Andrew Tate. File pic: AP

In throwing out the evidence, the judge said that there was likely to be ongoing reporting about Tate after he and his brother Tristan, 36, flew to the US from Romania on Thursday after travel restrictions imposed on the pair were lifted.

A criminal investigation has since been launched into the British-American pair – who are already subject to an ongoing probe into alleged people trafficking in Romania – in Florida.

They are also due to be extradited to the UK after that case to face separate accusations of rape and trafficking dating back to between 2012 and 2015.

The brothers deny any wrongdoing.

‘Misogynistic and sexualised’ comments

Clifford had recently been sacked from his job at a catering supply firm in Waltham Cross.

It also emerged in legal argument that he was said to have made “misogynistic and sexualised comments” about female colleagues in the workplace.

He hid two relationships with women he knew through work from Louise during their 18-month relationship, which started after they met on a dating website.

It can now be reported Clifford went on dating apps Hinge and Tinder moments after Louise ended their 18-month relationship in a message on 26 June last year.

Clifford planned attack over 13 days

  • 26 June 2024: Louise Hunt ends 18-month relationship.
  • 28 June: Kyle Clifford buys a 30cm length of rope from Toolstation in Enfield.
  • 30 June: He searches for crossbows and pornography online.
  • 3 July: Clifford buys a crossbow, six bolts and a cocking device online for £357 for delivery to his home. He also buys a Glock air pistol, which was not delivered before the murders.
  • 4 July: Clifford buys two petrol cans from Halfords in Enfield, which are later found by police in the boot of his car, and two rolls of duct tape from a branch of B&Q.
  • 5 July: He visits the gym and goes for a night out in central London, staying overnight in a hotel.
  • 7 July: A 10-inch steel butchering knife he bought through Amazon for £89 is delivered to his home.
  • 8 July: He searches YouTube for Andrew Tate’s podcast

Clifford then started planning his attack, buying a length of rope just two days later, and on 30 June he researched crossbows before searching for a pornographic video of a Wandsworth prison officer having sex with an inmate.

Brother serving life sentence for murder

He also discussed crossbows with his brother Bradley Clifford, who he would visit in prison every other week, where he is serving a life sentence for murdering a teenager in 2017.

Bradley Clifford drunkenly mowed down 19-year-old Jahshua Francis, who was riding a moped, and his pillion passenger Sobhan Khan, 18, after his “prized” red Mustang was damaged.

Bradley Clifford. Pic: Met Police
Image:
Bradley Clifford. Pic: Met Police

Police said Kyle Clifford had plenty of opportunities to back out of the 9 July attack but was “absolutely cold-blooded and calculated in his actions”.

In legal argument not before the jury, Ms Morgan said “highly sexualised violence played a part in what took place” and that Clifford was trying to “misogynistically control Louise Hunt for one more time”.

‘Sense of entitlement’

She described him as a man whose identity was based on “whether he has the right number of women and the admiration of women” and “doesn’t like to be told, ‘No,’ by women”.

Ms Morgan said his “sense of entitlement” and the “spite and the sleight” of being dumped fuelled the sexualised violence.

The day of the murders – 9 July 2024

  • 9.54am: Clifford goes to a garden centre with his mother, father and niece.
  • 1.07pm: He leaves his home in Enfield to drive to Bushey, parking near the Hunt family home 30 minutes later.
  • 1.39pm: Police believe he gets out of his car to check which cars are parked outside the house – there were three family vehicles parked that day.
  • 1.48pm: Clifford has returned to his car and searches on his phone for “horse racing today” to check if John Hunt was at home.
  • 2.30pm: Having parked his car closer, he takes a rucksack from the boot, believed to contain the knife, and carries a white plastic bag containing Louise’s clothes.
  • 2.32pm: He knocks at the door, appearing calm when Carol Hunt answers.
  • 2.39pm: Clifford enters the home on the pretext of handing back Louise’s belongings and leaving a “thank you” card for her parents, attacking Carol with the knife less than a minute later.
  • 3.07pm: He goes back to his car to get the crossbow, which is hidden under a blanket before returning to the house.
  • 4.12pm: Louise, who has been working in her dog grooming business in a pod in the garden, enters her home where Clifford is waiting. She is restrained with duct tape, gagged, and raped.
  • 5.52pm: He uses Louise’s phone to send a text message to her father asking what time he will be home and he replies to say late.
  • 5.57pm: Her phone is used to search whether unplugging a smoke detector stops it from sounding an alarm and if alcohol is flammable.
  • 6.50pm: Clifford kills Louise with the crossbow moments before her sister Hannah Hunt returns home.
  • 6.54pm: Hannah is shot by Clifford with the crossbow before he leaves. Four minutes later, while injured, she calls 999.
  • 7.10pm: Emergency services arrive but Hannah dies soon after.

After the murders, CCTV footage shows Clifford calmly leaving the Hunt family home in the quiet cul-de-sac of Ashlyn Close carrying a backpack and holding the crossbow hidden under a blanket.

He drove to a cemetery near his home in Enfield, north London, where he shot himself in the chest with the weapon as armed police descended the next day following a manhunt.

A makeshift noose was found in a nearby tree, but police and prosecutors don’t believe he made a genuine attempt to end his life, although he was left paralysed from the chest down.

The trial was held in Cambridge to accommodate him as a wheelchair user, but he refused to attend.

Kyle Clifford when he was working for a fire and security installation company in 2023
Image:
Kyle Clifford in 2023

‘Underwhelming individual’

His victims’ friends and family, including John Hunt – who has one surviving daughter Amy – sat in the public gallery to hear the harrowing details of the case.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Gardner described Clifford, who served in the army from 2019 for around three years, as an “entirely underwhelming individual” with a failed military career who couldn’t hold down a job.

He worked as a private security guard for a few months in 2023, then was sacked from his job at Reynolds shortly before the murders.

Louise had told a friend Clifford had a “nasty temper”, while friends and family members described him as “odd” or “disrespectful, rude and arrogant”.

Clifford came to the attention of police in London in relation to alleged offences of possession of cannabis, assault without injury and theft when he was a juvenile between 2012 and 2013, but they didn’t result in charges or convictions.

Police say there were no obvious red flags that he would go on to commit such a crime.

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Growing number of domestic violence victims are taking their own lives

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Growing number of domestic violence victims are taking their own lives

Sharon Holland sits surrounded by fresh flowers as she scrolls through photos on her phone of her daughter, Chloe.

Warning: This article contains references to suicide and domestic abuse

Beautiful, poised, Chloe stares back at her from the screen. She was a fun, independent young women – until she wasn’t.

Caught up in an abusive relationship with a former partner, who her mother calls a “monster”, Chloe became a shadow of her former self.

Sharon never met him as Chloe kept the ongoing relationship a secret but she had suspicions when her daughter, who had moved out of home, retreated from her friends and family.

“As far as I knew, they’d split up in September 2022 and she was living happily in Southampton,” she says.

But Sharon began to suspect the relationship might be back on after she spotted her daughter liking some of her ex-boyfriend’s Facebook posts.

Chloe
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Chloe was full of life before she met her abuser

“I saw a few hearts on his pictures, and thought ‘here we go’. But she would always deny it and say she would never get back with him. Of course, she was lying to me.”

Increasingly isolated from her loved ones, Chloe’s only communication with Sharon was through text messages and the occasional phone call.

“She turned up at people’s houses with black eyes and made excuses for marks around her neck and everything else,” says Sharon. “No one told me.”

Chloe took her own life in February 2023.

Her family is not alone in their grief. There are now more victims of domestic abuse who take their own life, than those who are killed by their partners.

Between April 2022 to March 2023, there were 93 people who took their own lives following domestic abuse. A 29% rise compared to the previous year.

Sharon
Image:
Sharon and Sky News’ Ashna Hurynag

Assaulted with a dumbbell and handed a knife

Marc Masterton, Chloe’s boyfriend at the time, was routinely assaulting her, controlling her appearance, isolating her from friends and family, belittling her and encouraging her to self-harm.

On one occasion after he assaulted her with a dumbbell, Chloe threatened to take her own life.

In response, Masterton handed her a knife.

“She said on a few occasions, his eyes went from blue to black and it terrified her,” Sharon says.

The abuse was happening in plain sight – in hotels, hostels and on public transport. Chloe eventually chose to report the abuse to police. But two weeks later, she attempted to take her own life.

At the intensive care unit she was taken to before she died, Sharon didn’t leave her bedside. It was here she learnt from a police officer about Chloe’s testimony a fortnight before.

Chloe and her mother, Sharon
Image:
Chloe and her mother, Sharon

Chloe’s evidence

“They told me she’d done a video statement for over two hours and were investigating him,” Sharon says.

“I’ve watched it. She was crying for lots of it and was distraught. I was devastated and angry. He was telling her to take her life. He was giving her knives up against her neck and then saying, you do it.”

Her evidence led to the conviction of her abuser. Masterton admitted coercive and controlling behaviour and was jailed for three years, nine months.

Justice which, Sharon feels, fell well below her expectations.

“We needed to get over four years for him to go on this dangerous person’s list, so he could be monitored as high risk,” she adds.

Sharon is now calling for tougher sentences for those convicted of coercive control.

The current maximum sentence a perpetrator can get for the offence is five years, but Sharon points to countries like France where the maximum sentence is 10 years.

“No amount of years is going to bring her back… But he needed to get more than that.”

Chloe

The overlooked victims of a growing crisis

It’s incredibly rare to get a criminal investigation in these cases, says Hazel Mercer from the national charity, Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse.

“Most of the families that come to us where there’s been a suicide as result of domestic abuse, the biggest issue for them is the lack of acknowledgement of what has happened to their loved one. Is there going to be any justice that says this domestic abuse was a crime against this person who’s now dead?

“They ask, is anything like that going to happen, and at the moment, nine times out of ten, the answer is no.”

Hazel Mercer
Image:
Hazel Mercer advocates for families who have a lost a loved one after domestic abuse

Hazel works with families who feel a lack of “professional curiosity” by authorities means critical connections are often missed.

“When we have a homicide, resources are put into it, there is a real investigation… For a suicide, we seldom see that investigative desire or professional curiosity to look behind that suicide and why it happened.”

Fighting for change

The Crown Prosecution Service is investigating the link between suicide and domestic abuse more closely.

Efforts are being made to educate police and prosecutors on coercive control’s deadly trajectory after the high-profile death of mother Kiena Dawes, who was abused before she died by suicide on 22 July 2022.

Sky News has learnt the CPS is actively assessing similar cases, but Chief Crown Prosecutor Kate Brown says “it isn’t straightforward”.

Kiena Dawes
Image:
Kiena Dawes was abused before she died by suicide

Invariably because of the nature of coercive and controlling behaviour, a lot of that offending happens in private. So without the victim, that’s quite difficult,” she says.

They are working with police to unpick the detail of the abuse a victim suffered in the lead up to their death. Collating evidence from family, friends or even doctors if the victim’s medical records show there’s been a history of physical violence.

Kate Brown
Image:
Chief Crown Prosecutor Kate Brown

The Ministry of Justice told Sky News: “This government is committed to halving violence against women and girls. The independent sentencing review is looking at sentences for offences primarily committed against them.

“Victims of controlling and coercive behaviour will also now be better protected through a new law that ensures more abusers are subject to joined-up management by police and probation.”

For Sharon, her campaign is a way of honouring her daughter’s memory. “I won’t stop till I get justice for Chloe,” she says.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

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