Murder victim's family want tougher restrictions on where offenders can live

Emma's sister, Julie (left), was murdered by Richard Butcher

The sister of a murder victim has called for tougher restrictions on where murderers can live when they are released from prison.

Julie Butcher, from Chiseldon near Swindon, was murdered in 2005 by her ex-husband, Richard Butcher.

Butcher was jailed for 13 years. After his release he was able to move back to the same area where Julie's sister, Emma King, was living.

Ms King said it left them "looking over their shoulders".

Butcher, who was released in 2020, was eventually given a 2.5 mile exclusion zone but Ms King wants a 50 mile default zone around victims.

Emma King said the family was not given enough chances to show the impact Butcher's return would have on them

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, Ms King said she had considered leaving Swindon over the issue but stayed "because we thought we are not being driven out of an area that we've lived all our lives".

"For us, it's difficult to go out and travel. We felt we lost our sister and now we're going to have to worry about him being in the area, looking over our shoulders," Ms King said.

"We didn't want to be isolated. We didn't want to be staying in our homes.

"If you don't get an exclusion map, or an area that you can live comfortably... you would just end up being in your home and not going out."

Ellie Gould's mum, Carole, has backed Emma's campaign

Ms King said she was initially told by parole officers there was "no way they could stop him coming to Swindon".

"I always believed that was the case," she added.

"It just felt like we were on our own fighting his human rights, his rehabilitation. We weren't getting anywhere fast."

Ms King has now teamed up with Carole Gould, whose daughter Ellie was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife by Thomas Griffiths, then 17, in Calne in 2019.

"I would like to see that families are listened to," said Ms King. "That they [the Parole Board] get the conditions of life licence correct.

"Don't take risks of categorising offenders as low risk to the community. And to ensure we get [an exclusion] map around what we need as a family."

The Ministry of Justice told ITV: "Murderers already face some of the strictest licence conditions - including exclusion zones to protect victim's families.

"If these conditions are broken they face being sent straight back to prison."