The mum of a teen who was murdered by her violent ex says the government has made her daughter “a poster girl” for ending violence against women - but hasn't taken enough action.
Carole Gould, whose daughter Ellie was stabbed to death in May 2019, has spent the last three years tirelessly campaigning against “misogynistic” rules that saw her killer jailed for just 12 and a half years.
Remembering Ellie, Carole, from Wiltshire, described a “caring young lady” who was “really thoughtful.”
Speaking to The Mirror, she said: “[Ellie’s] friends described her as ‘the girl with the smile’. She was the glue in the friendship group and she never liked to see anyone left out.”
The mum added her daughter had a huge love of animals and had a horse and guinea pigs growing up.
“I never had to prompt her to look after them like you would with most kids,” Carole recalled.
Ellie was just 17 when she was killed by Thomas Griffiths, who she’d been dating for three months - but after seeing some worrying behaviour from Griffiths, the schoolgirl decided to take a break from the relationship.
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The day after calling it quits, Griffiths turned up at Ellie’s house during school hours and strangled her. Then he took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her 17 times.
When the cold-blooded killer had finished his vicious attack, he washed the knife to get rid of his DNA and put it back into Ellie’s neck to try and make her death look like a suicide.
After initially protesting his innocence he eventually pleaded guilty to murder and was given a youth sentence of 12 and a half years in prison because he hadn’t yet turned 18.
When the family’s barrister told Carole and her husband Matt the sentence they could expect, the mum said she was in “complete shock.”
“It just seems ridiculous,” she said. “[Griffiths] was only four months away from his 18th birthday.”
Carole added she expressed her dismay to the family’s barrister, who told her the justice system had “got it right” with youth sentencing.
As the harrowing tale of Ellie’s murder made headlines, fellow grieving mum Julie Devey felt furious.
Her daughter Poppy Devey-Waterhouse, a keen traveller with a brilliant mind, had been brutally murdered at the age of 24 by her jealous ex months earlier in December 2018 after she called off the relationship.
Joe Atkinson, then 25, returned after a work Christmas party to the flat the couple shared in Leeds before launching a heinous attack on Poppy, leaving her with 49 knife wounds.
When he was finished, Atkinson left the flat and drove for two hours to get rid of his clothes and the murder weapon, a kitchen knife. He waited several hours before calling 999. When the emergency services arrived, he pretended he’d attacked Poppy in self defence.
At first, Atkinson pleaded not guilty, but after five weeks on remand he changed his plea and admitted murdering the 24-year-old. He was jailed for a minimum of 16 years and two months.
Watching Ellie’s story on the news, Julie couldn’t help but see some similarities between the cases.
She told The Mirror: “The girls were both very young and the murders seemed out of the blue. Ellie had also just finished with her boyfriend, which was the same in both cases. The stabbings were both in the house too.
“Carole lived locally so I thought I’d get in touch after a few months. My friends have been absolutely brilliant and supportive but there’s something different when you speak to somebody who has been through it.”
Julie sent Carole a letter sharing her contact details. Almost immediately after receiving the letter, Carole got in touch.
Soon the pair met in person and chatted for hours about the sentences the killers had received.
By now, they had learnt that so-called domestic homicide (a murder that happens in the home where the murder weapon is already present) carried a lighter starting sentence of 15 years than a murder outside the home where the murder weapon is brought to the scene (25 years).
The mothers agreed they thought the sentencing rules were deeply unjust and devalued violence against women.
“How can you justify this 10 year difference in sentencing? It doesn’t deal with violence in the home,” Carole said.
“It’s ludicrous. These laws aren’t fit for purpose.
“It diminishes the lives of women and diminishes the crime. I’ll never understand it. These crimes are so often very violent. How can you say a murder in the home is worth less than outside the home?”
Julie added: “These murders always involve overkill.”
She referred to the more than 100 injuries on Poppy’s body when she was discovered.
“As human beings we can make a decision in a nanosecond. [Atkinson] made a series of decisions that night and didn’t stop at any one of those points.”
The mums have argued that, just because a weapon hasn’t been brought to the scene of a crime, doesn’t mean the murder wasn’t premeditated.
And in the cases of Atkinson and Griffiths, they believe the quick escalation of violence and the brutality of the murders mean the men will be dangerous whenever they are released.
“How can you say someone capable of doing that, stabbing or strangling someone up close, isn’t a danger to the public?” Carole said.
The determined campaigners have achieved some success in the implementation of a ‘sliding scale’ of sentencing for youths who commit murder.
Now, a 17 year old convicted of murder will serve a minimum of 90% of the jail sentence given to adults.
While this amendment has been dubbed ‘Ellie’s Law,’ Carole said the name sticks in her teeth as it’s only part of what they’re campaigning for - and the principle hasn’t been applied to Griffiths’s sentence.
The mums are still waiting for the publication of a review into sentencing of domestic homicide, which was due in December 2021.
After a few delays due to things like Covid, Carole and Julie are still waiting on the release of the review and say they’ve not received an update for months.
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of Ellie Gould and Poppy Devey-Waterhouse.
“Protecting women and girls and bringing abusers to justice is this government’s priority which is why we have changed the law to introduce longer minimum starting points for some older children who commit murder – making sure they reflect the gravity of the offence.”
However, Carole has argued that the changes in youth sentencing aren't enough to protect young women as long as domestic homicide sentences remain the same.
“I feel like the government has used Ellie as a poster girl,” Carole said, adding she doesn’t believe enough action has followed promises to crack down on violence against women.
“This escalation of violence was so quick and so alarming,” she said. “But Griffiths could be out at 30 years old.
“We know we can’t get justice now. There’s nothing we can do about Griffiths’s sentence. The only thing we can do is bang the drum when he comes up for parole.”
While the mums continue their campaign for harsher punishments for domestic homicide, they’re driven by the memories of their daughters.
Julie said: “Poppy was fiercely loyal. She had a variety of friends from all walks of life.”
Moved up a year in primary school, Poppy excelled in her studies, particularly maths, and was often top of her class. But her academic success never went to her head.
“Poppy didn’t care if her friends had the same qualifications as her. She liked people for who they were and it made me very, very proud.”
Carole said of Ellie: “She was wonderful. She’s the most devastating loss ever.”
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