Penistone woman aims to change the law around 'unsafe child contact'

A South Yorkshire woman insists 'she won't be ignored' - in her efforts to make it illegal for people with a history of domestic abuse - to be allowed contact with children.

Claire Throssell - from Penistone - lost her two son's - 12-year-old Jack & 9-year-old Paul - in a house fire started by their dad - Darren Sykes - who also died in the blaze ten years ago.

Today, Claire's handing in a petition at Downing Street - which's been signed by over 100 thousand people - in a bid to change the law around 'unsafe child contact'.

She says it'll help save lives:

"We initially went down in 2019 and handed in a petition which had 44,000 signatures.

"Now we've got over 100,000 signatures, which means it has to be debated in Parliament in a fair, open, and transparent way.

"For Jack and Paul, my head will go up, my shoulders will go back, and I will go down that street again - even if I have to crawl down it - to make sure nobody has to go through what my boys did.

"Abuse doesn't stay with the abuser - it stays with us - the victims - and it will remain with me for the rest of my life.

"I said to the government that I'd come with a bigger petition.

"If it doesn't get accepted in the House of Lords, then I'll keep coming back until the law changes, and no more children die."

The boys' dad had been allowed access to the children as part of an unsupervised court ordered visit - even though concerns had been raised about his abusive past.

You can see the petition below:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/child-first-safe-child-contact-saves-lives

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