Jade Ward murder: Family urge ban on killer raising her children

The family of a 29-year-old woman murdered by her estranged husband want the law changed so he has no say in raising their children.

Jade Ward was stabbed and strangled in her Flintshire home by Russell Marsh as their four children slept.

He was given a life sentence earlier in April and must serve a minimum of 25 years for the "merciless attack".

His wife's family want parents who kill their partners to lose legal rights over their children.

The Ministry of Justice was asked to comment on their call to have parental responsibility taken away for the duration of any prison term.

An MoJ spokesperson said: "Judges are required to put the welfare of children first and can effectively remove all rights and powers from a parent who had murdered the other".

Karen Robinson, the mother of Jade - who was also known as Jade Marsh - said she was "absolutely gobsmacked" to hear that her killer could still have input into the children's lives.

"We're going through enough without having him looming over our heads," she said.

• Jade: 'Most amazing' mother of four

• Russell Marsh jailed for estranged wife's murder

"His rights are if we want to take the boys out of the country on holiday, or to the surgery, or medical conditions. It's just wrong.

"He can delay things by saying 'no I don't want that to happen' and then it would have to go to family court."

Jade's mother Karen Robinson paid tribute to her daughter outside the court building after the trial

While she described the boys as "doing well", Karen said the rest of the family were "just devastated, torn apart".

Ms Robinson said it was "his last bit of control", adding: "Hopefully if 'Jade's Law' gets passed, some good has got to come out of Jade's death.

'Horrendous human being'

"And if we can help other families who will unfortunately go through the same, if we can take that added horrific stress off another family, then great."

Ms Robinson said he had lied to the authorities, saying Jade's family cared for the children poorly. She called him "a horrendous human being".

"Marsh would rather them boys be in care than with Jade's family because to him it's all Jade's fault, he doesn't care about the boys," she added.

"It's his controlling, narcissistic ways. Apart from the boys he can't control anything else."

Jade's parents and sister Philippa have been struggling to come to terms with what happened

She said she hoped he will never come out of jail, but after 25 years, the boys will be adults, so will be able to make their own decisions.

Jade's father Paul Ward said: "For 10 years, he gave a totally different perception of what he was, like he was a jolly person. But he wasn't - he was this cold, cold killer who actually was a fake. We had no idea this was coming at all."

He described the period since Jade's death as "awful", adding: "You try and get something like this out of it, it's going to help me a lot but it's never going to bring my daughter back."

Mr Ward believes some men have the perception they can abuse and bully women, but he said it could not be tolerated, adding: "We never saw this coming and women's lives matter."

Russell Marsh carried out a "cruel and prolonged" attack on his wife

Russell Marsh, 29, admitted manslaughter but was convicted of murder at Mold Crown Court.

The trial judge said the killer had been "consumed with self-pity and jealously" when he went to his wife's home in Shotton, Flintshire, and carried out a "prolonged and cruel" attack.

'Controlling and possessive'

Judge Rhys Rowland said the killer had been "controlling and possessive" and had told friends that if he could not have Jade, then nobody could.

Tragically, it transpired to be the truth," he added.

The attack happened after Marsh "fabricated" an excuse to leave his night job early on 26 August, 2021, and drove to the house in Chevrons Road, where he attacked her - one week after she ended their relationship.

Jade Ward's family described her as "kind, beautiful, funny, caring"

Her body was found on the bed, covered with a pile of clothes and a blanket.

The bedroom door had been secured with a dressing gown cord.

Marsh drove their children to his parents' house in nearby Saughall, Cheshire, and handed himself into police later that day, telling officers he had done "something bad" to his wife.

Family friend Edwin Duggan has helped set up an online petition, which calls for the suspension of parenting responsibility of anyone who has murdered the only other person with the same responsibility.

This would leave the children effectively orphaned.

Jade Ward's body was found under a pile of clothes and a blanket

"For the family that look after the children after that, it'll save them from having to have any sort of input from the person who's murdered a member of their family," he added.

"On a national scale it's probably more common than people are inclined to think. It's usually in a domestic setting - it's usually a parent and if any children are left behind it's up to the family and friends of those children to look after them.

"And as a consequence they have to go through a court procedure to get special guardianship or may have to apply for other conditions such as a medical reason."

Mr Duggan said they were seeking amendments to the Children's Act 1989 and the Human Rights Act.

These would see an automatic suspension of parental responsibility during any prison term.

"Parental responsibility is a privilege and a responsibility, if someone takes away the children's mother by murder they must forfeit that right. It's blatantly obvious they don't care for those children because they wouldn't have committed that action if they did," he added.

What does the law say?

Where a child does not have a parent to care for them on a day-to-day basis, members of the family can seek a court order.

A local authority might initiate care proceedings, with a view to providing for the children's upbringing.

Who a child lives with, who has parental responsibility for a child, and what rights or powers a parent or person has can all be determined by the court.

Parental responsibility cannot be removed from a father who was married to the mother at the time of birth of the child, but it can be limited by the court if that is in the best interests of the child.