Bereaved victims of homicide abroad – ‘unfinished business’
In her 2023/24 Annual Report, Baroness Newlove reflects on her efforts to secure Victims' Code rights for bereaved victims of homicide abroad.
This article was first featured in Baroness Newlove’s 2023/24 Annual Report, published on 10 October 2024.
Where there is a political will, we can move mountains. However, on this occasion, the political will was not in evidence.
When the Victims and Prisoners Bill came to the Lords, I supported an amendment to give bereaved UK victims of homicide statutory recognition within the Victims’ Code.
To lose a loved one to homicide is a truly devastating experience, as I know only too well. When the death happens in the UK, the system wraps itself around you and you are guided through what can feel like a surreal process of inquests, court hearings, meetings with police and barristers, and support workers.
When that death happens in another country, as is the case in 60–80 cases a year, the experience of the bereaved family is very different.
You are suddenly confronted with an alien legal system, often a different language and logistical problems such as how to get the body repatriated or finding out what is happening with the police investigation. All at a time when you are grappling with grief and trauma.
You also discover that here in the UK, the country you call home, where you have lived all your life and where you pay your taxes, you are not formally recognised as a victim of crime.
More importantly, the Victims’ Code does not apply to you.
You may be given a police Family Liaison Officer. If the body is returned to the UK, there will be a coroner’s inquest. You will be offered access to the National Homicide Service. If the perpetrator is repatriated, you will be offered access to the Victim Contact Scheme. However, you do not fall within the Victims’ Code and, as such, you have no statutory entitlements. Instead, you will find yourself reliant upon “discretionary” support:
- A Family Liaison Officer may be allocated to you, but only at the discretion of your chief constable.
- Access to the National Homicide Service is given at the discretion of the Ministry of Justice.
- Access to financial assistance can often appear to be at the discretion of National Homicide Service caseworkers.
- Any support you receive from the Victim Contact Scheme is entirely discretionary. It is not set out anywhere in law.
“You would expect them to hold your hand a bit because it is such a bad process to go through and you are in shock, in mourning. There should have been some help there. There should be a process, steps that you can follow. You should have a direct line to contact a FLO or investigating officer.”
Victim testimony from a case study featured in the Victims’ Commissioner’s 2019 report, Struggling for Justice: Entitlements and Experiences of Bereaved Families Following Homicide Abroad.
Read the reportNeither will you have a Code of Practice, like a Victims’ Code, you can refer to. The agencies who work with these victims (the police, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office, Ministry of Justice) do have a memorandum of understanding, but this document is for officials to use – it is not intended for victims.
Clearly, the Victims’ Code cannot apply to a foreign jurisdiction. I recognise that, as do the victims’ families.
However, for many years, I have been of the view we need to give these families the same recognition we afford other bereaved victims of homicide. I want to see the discretionary support offered by UK agencies here at home be brought within the remit of the Victims’ Code.
In other words, I want to see these families move from discretionary support to statutory entitlements, where compliance becomes a legal requirement and not simply an act of goodwill. This would mean that where agencies fail to comply, there are clear lines of accountability.
The costs of such a move are minuscule, but the impact on the families would be huge. For the first time, they would be a part of their home justice system, which is where they belong.
The last government dismissed an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill, citing that it would create an ‘unwelcome precedent.’ I do not agree.
In 2015, following the Sousse terror attack on UK holiday makers on a beach in Tunisia, the then government, directed by the Prime Minister David Cameron, set up a cross-government taskforce, to which I was a member, to coordinate support for the victims and their families. It achieved a great deal and in a short space of time. It even established a statutory compensation scheme for the victims.
It showed me that where there was a political will, we can move mountains. However, on this occasion, the political will was not in evidence.
I am disappointed we have not been able to make this small but important change. In the words of one of my colleagues in the Lords: the matter is not closed, it is simply unfinished business. I will continue to fight to get these victims the recognition they rightly deserve.