County Durham family hoping to meet PM to talk about Maya's Law
Two year-old Maya Chappell died in 2022
A County Durham family of a toddler who was shaken to death is hoping to meet the Prime Minister to talk about Maya's Law.
Two-year-old Maya Chappell died in 2022 after being assaulted by her mother's partner.
Her great aunt's been spearheading a campaign for better safeguarding for at-risk children.
Gemma Chappell says Sir Keir Starmer does know about it though: "There's still a lot going on in the background. We've still got a very busy schedule ahead of us. Two of the main things at the minute is we'd like Bridget Phillipson to have a seat with us and listen to us, and also the Prime Minister. If he's up in Durham at any point before Christmas then that would be nice to sit and have a cup of tea.
"Sir Keir Starmer's been made aware of it and the fact that somebody in that much power knows about our family's campaign, and is aware of the elements of it, is massive to us. It gave us so much happiness as a family. He's agreed to push ministers to get a response to us and have meeting with us."
She's recently met with Josh MacAlister, who's the minister for children, families and wellbeing.
Gemma added: "It was lovely for him to sit with us and Liz Twist MP and just have that listening ear. I put six questions to him and he is keen to get a response to us for that. I know it's coming up to Christmas so we might get it after Christmas, but I'm quite keen to get them back because that will help us keep going with the campaign.
"It was a really good meeting, real positives out of it, and he's agreed to keep working with us, keep listening to us and keep working with other families as well and other families that haven't lost their children but have gone through the abuse too, which is just as important as our families that have lost children because they're the ones that are currently going through it.
"We've arranged a few events for next year already to raise some money with something in the background that'll be coming out in January. I've got emails to send off to councillors in the nearby areas such as Cleveland and Northumbria, they need to go off to get them involved."