West Sussex mum murdered by her partner remembered in art project
An artist is painting each of the 118 women killed by a man in 2020
Last updated 15th Apr 2021
A West Sussex mother who was murdered last year is being included in a new art project to remember women killed by men in Britain.
Kelly Fitzgibbons, who was 40, was shot dead at her home in Woodmancote near Chichester last March by her partner, 42-year-old Robert Needham.
Her body was found alongside those of her two daughters, four-year-old Ava and two-year-old Lexi, and the family dog.
Needham was also found dead, having turned the gun on himself.
A picture of Kelly, Ava and Lexi has now been created as part of a campaign started by North London-based artist Henny Beaumont.
She got the idea after hearing Labour MP Jess Phillips read out the names of all 118 women who had been killed by a man in Britain in 2020 in the House of Commons on International Women's Day.
Henny told Sky News:
"I was hugely saddened and really shocked that the only name I recognised was Sarah Everard and she wasn't on the list, but she did mention her name.
"It made me curious about all these other women and why we didn't know them. I wanted to create a memorial to them. I paint them and film myself painting them, then I pause and reverse the image so you see them disappearing.
"I had lots of comments from people calling them 'unpaintings', but I'm calling them 'Disappearing Women'. They are symbolic of what has happened to these women."
Kelly's friend Sue Redman said the campaign had helped her to understand the sheer number of women that had been victims of femicide in the past year:
"I wouldn't have even thought that there were that many murders in the UK in a year, let alone women murdered at the hands of men.
"It's truly shocking and it's very, very right what Jess Phillips has done.
"Kelly was an amazing girl, so popular and so loved. She was such a fantastic mother, she put the rest of us to shame. We first met at the village youth club when we were 13 and I was lucky enough to be her best friend."
Kelly's twin sister Emma has now launched the Kelly Fitzgibbons Foundation to provide information, advice and practical support for families who have lost loved ones in traumatic circumstances.
Henny Beaumont has delivered her painting of Kelly and her daughters to Kelly's father and will share images of her work on a regular basis via Twitter and her website.