Love You to Death: A Year of Domestic Violence

This programme contains some strong language

and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

She was my auntie.

She was one of my best friends from school.

Chantelle was my daughter.

She was my next-door neighbour.

She was my little sister.

She was my mum.

Janelle Duncan Bailey, 25.

Akua Agyeman, 32.

Anastasia Voykina, 23.

Suzanne Newton, 45.

Myrna Kirby, 57.

Virginja Jurkiene, 49.

Debbie Levey, 44.

Samantha Medland, 24.

Ganimete Hoti, 42.

Alexis Durant, 42.

It always really annoys me when something happens with somebody,

how suddenly they become the most genuine, lovely,

wonderful person in the world, when not everybody can be.

Does that make sense?

But this girl, like, so real...

-So clumsy and dopey. She was so dopey, wasn't she?

-Yeah.

The things she used to come out with.

I know! We were like, "Did she just definitely say that?"

Did she definitely just say that?

In the middle of town in front of everyone. Perfect.

I knew her from working with her in the care home.

I remember when she first started, then,

obviously, like, I wear fake tan and stuff, and she was like,

"Oh, let's go shopping."

And she spent about £100 on, like, fake eyelashes, fake tan

and everything, and then whenever we went out, I'd always have to

fake-tan all her legs and then she'd always get drunk and spill her drink

and she'd have white lines all down her legs.

Oh, it used to make me laugh.

When she was 19, Kirsty had a baby girl called Brooke

and began raising her on her own.

How did she meet Mark?

He literally just knocked on her door.

He'd just got out of prison...the day before.

She told me...

Wasn't it like he beat somebody up or something, wasn't it?

And I just thought that's not really someone that

I want my best friend to be with, somebody like that.

Susan Cole, 54.

Jennifer Rennie, 26.

Daneshia Arthur, 30.

Pamela Jackson, 55.

Deborah Simister, 45.

Lisa Clay, 40.

What do you think that Kirsty saw in him? What was he like?

No idea, absolutely no idea.

So different from any other person, boyfriend she'd ever had.

In what way?

He looked a mess, absolute mess.

Scruffy, long, bushy hair,

tracksuit bottoms all the time and T-shirts.

Not her usual type at all.

Did you get the feeling that Kirsty was in love with him?

Yeah.

Kirsty was besotted with him, even though

it was, like, literally, like a week, two weeks after.

She was just, like, fascinated by him, even then.

Kirsty started to drink quite heavily with him.

Where she always drank socially before, erm,

she was drinking more than what she'd...what you'd call the normal.

Did he steal her card and go and buy drugs with it?

-Yeah, bank card.

-Yeah.

He stole...and went and bought drugs with it

and spent all of her money on drugs so she couldn't do the food shopping

and that's what the money was for.

But she was also very worried that

when he went out, he was going to leave her for ever.

-And that he was never going to come back again.

-Yeah.

That's what she really panicked about, that, if he left,

that was it, he was never going to come back.

-And she'd ring him 100 times...

-Hmm.

-..just to make sure he was coming.

So he really had a hold over her, didn't he?

-Yeah.

-A massive, massive hold.

Derisa Trenchard, 48.

Junella Valentine, 34.

Ahdieh Khayatzadeh, 46.

Gabrielle Stanley, 28.

Josephine Steele, 45.

Did she ever say that he had been violent towards her?

No, no.

Um, I was seeing marks on Kirsty,

um...and she told me that they were play fighting.

I remember when she came to work once and she had, like, these

little marks on her arm there and I said something to her

and she was like, "Oh, I just burnt it on the oven,"

but you could see that they weren't burns

and I kind of just, like, brushed it off.

I thought maybe she was just messing around with Brooke,

or something. I didn't think anything of it.

SHE SNIFFS

Sorry, I'm going to cry now.

Don't cry.

-You'll smudge your eyeliner.

-(I know.)

Now all my make-up is running. Great(!)

No, it's not, honest.

Do the eye blow.

I'm doing it.

No, you have to do it like this, and blow up.

I did confront Kirsty. She went mental at me.

Absolutely mental. And she didn't talk to me for three weeks.

I told her so many times, if these problems are happening

this early in the relationship, it was just best to end it,

which she always agreed with me.

But each time took him back.

In the summer that year, she became, a lot of the time, tearful...

..down.

She lost a lot of weight very quickly.

Um...she just looked worn down.

By September 2013, Mark had been living with Kirsty

and Brooke for nine months.

Was Kirsty quite isolated by then?

She had really lost everybody.

Like, they had an argument and he was like,

"I'm going to make sure that you've got nobody,

"you're going to lose all your friends." And that's what happened.

Yeah, that is what happened.

Like, she did literally...just lost everybody because of him.

Catherine Sandeman, 40.

Ridda Zanab, 21,

Jade Watson, 22.

Paula Newman, 20.

Tracey Topliss, 47.

Carol French, 73.

Aisha Alam, 49.

Brooke told me that he was bashing, as she put it,

Mummy with a knife...

..and kicking her while she was on the floor.

She told me that he was telling her to, "Get up, you whore."

She then told me that he changed his trousers..

..and then put washing on.

He left and locked the front door.

Brooke was seen at seven o'clock at the window

beckoning to a neighbour...

..but the neighbour thought Brooke was just waving.

Brooke managed to open the back door at half past seven that morning,

climb over a fence that was very high for her...

..and was seen by a neighbour

standing in the alleyway.

Brooke told the neighbour that Mummy was dead.

What she saw that night no child should ever have to see.

Naika Inayat, 52, killed in a fire set by her husband.

He planned to prevent his daughter from going ahead with a marriage

he felt would dishonour the family, and killed his wife in the blaze.

Farkhanda Younis, 30.

Stabbed in Manchester by her husband

while her six-year-old son slept next door.

I used to tell him when I was little that I just hated him,

cos I just didn't want to be left alone with him.

I'm not sure what it was. I just didn't feel safe around him.

Can you tell me what life was like at home with him?

If Mum went out, even to take Nan shopping,

you'd get a phone call every two minutes.

"Where are you? When are you going to be home?"

I don't think her phone was ever not going off.

Just seeing where she was all the time, just not trusting at all.

-Because he was possessive?

-Mmm. Controlling over everything.

Just wouldn't let us do anything that he didn't want us to do.

-So, he was a bully?

-Mmm. Definitely.

Did your mum tell her family about her problems at all?

No, she wouldn't really tell anyone.

I think the only person she really told is me

and that's only cos I was there.

I don't think the family knew anything.

I think she just thought he was a bit weird,

but may as well just carry on.

Cos I always told her to leave him and she always said,

"I don't know what he'd do if I did."

-She said that?

-Mmm.

In August 2013, after 25 years with him,

Anne-Marie decided she could no longer tolerate Lee's behaviour.

What was his reaction

when she said that she wanted to end the relationship?

He just said that he's not going to let her leave,

and that he'd rather die, or her die, rather than him being alone.

He was just stalking Mum constantly. He wouldn't leave her alone.

If she was walking the dog, he'd be just behind her,

or overlooking the cliff if she was on the beach.

When we drove to school, once, he was in a Scream mask

and a costume holding up a sign saying "I love you",

waiting for us to drive past.

We called the police on the first night that he went crazy

and we'd kicked him out. That was when he was threatening to kill her.

We were always calling the police,

because she did get a non-molestation order.

She went to the court and set it up herself and then, after that

was in place, they said, "Call every time he was near." So we did.

Heather Arthur, 50, stabbed in Newcastle

by her husband of 30 years when she told him she wanted a divorce.

Salma Parveen, 22, and a bank clerk.

Strangled with a scarf by her husband in Coventry

when their marriage broke down.

Christine Baker, 52, strangled by her husband of 20 years

in Newcastle when he discovered she had been unfaithful.

It was just a normal morning. I just got up for school.

When we went in the front room to get my shoes on,

Dad jumped out of the pool house and ran up the end of the garden

and jumped over the fence.

So Mum called the police straight away and then she was on the phone

to the police as she was driving me to school.

So, the last time I saw her, she was on the phone to the police.

There was an appointment that had already been set up

for that day at six o'clock,

and that's how the call was left,

that she would attend at six o'clock that evening,

and, obviously, nobody could've foreseen what was going to happen

during the course of that day.

We know he walked along the coast.

He walked to where he knew that Anne would be.

By his reckoning, was there about 10 past 12 waiting to meet her.

I think he said that he tied a rope round her head

and then hit her over the head with a big branch and then tied it

up more, kissed her, said he loved her and then drove away.

Once he'd killed Anne, we know that he took the dogs back,

that she was walking, to the owners.

He then went from there to a local Asda store in Broadstairs,

where he went to the toilets

and washed the blood and mud off himself.

And then he went from there to a pub

and had two-and-a-half pints of beer

and then from that point, he went to the telephone kiosk

and phoned the police.

'OK, there's been a murder in Convent Road in the field.'

TYPING

'Please go and get her.

-OPERATOR:

-'Can you tell me your name?

-Lee Birch.

-'Lee Birch?

-Her name is Anne-Marie Birch.

-'How do you know this has happened?

-Because I killed her, it's my wife.'

Hindsight's always a fantastic thing, isn't it?

But it's just such a massive leap from, you know,

harassing someone, even persistent harassment, to that...

the ultimate violence that you could mete out to anybody.

Nothing would've stopped him. He actually said that in interview.

"It wouldn't have mattered what orders I'd been given by the court

"or conditions I'd been given by the police.

"Nothing would've stopped me."

Why did he kill her?

He just couldn't imagine not being with her. He was obsessed.

Obviously, you love your family and you love your wife,

but it was obsession.

He just could not bear the thought of being without her.

Margaret Knight, 77.

Margaret Mercati, 63.

Yvonne Walsh, 25.

Fatemeh Bostani, 43.

He was a very good man. Very happy, jolly type of man, very helpful man.

He would ask anyone if they needed help for pick and drop, or anything.

So, he was a kind man?

He was a kind man. That's how I know him, yeah.

In 2000, Mohamed Ali, owner of several shops,

met Amina Bibi,

known to her family as Assia.

After his first wife passed away, he met her through a friend.

Both of them went back home to Pakistan and, um...

the friend took him...one of his family friend's house.

That's how he saw Assia and it was like love at first sight,

call it that way.

He had a word with her parents and they simply agreed,

because he was from London and they said it's a good opportunity,

let's get the daughter married to him.

Very simple, very simple girl. She wasn't educated.

She could hardly speak any word of English.

Did she want to marry him, do you think?

Well, she had no choice, I think.

She was a nice wife, nice mum.

She was... Overall, she was a good lady.

What were the qualities that made her a nice wife?

She used to make dinner for her husband, whatever he used to say.

She used to look after the house, she used to look after the boys,

keep her house nice and tidy and, um... Yeah.

-She was a good, obedient wife?

-She was, yes.

You said that when she came, she came from a very poor

-and simple family?

-That's right, yeah.

As time passed in England, did her attitude change?

It did, yeah. It did change, as she had seen everything - money

and freedom and everything.

She wanted this, she wanted that.

She wanted a house built in Pakistan.

Did he build her a house in Pakistan?

He did, yeah, he did.

He used to look after her quite a lot.

So, when you saw her getting more greedy for money, in a way,

what was your reaction, Rizwana?

That too much greediness is not good.

Did she become more powerful in the marriage at that point?

As the years passed away, yes, like, become a boss of the house

and control of the house. Control financially.

The husband used to ask for even a small amount of money, like £5.

So, he had to come to her, to ask for some pocket money?

That's it, yeah, pocket money, yeah. Yeah...

Was there any indication that he wanted to end the marriage?

No, I haven't seen any indication, no.

He was quite happy with her and the boys.

The boys were very close to their father,

and even she was quite close to him.

I haven't seen anything.

It was like a very happy house, happy family.

That's what it looked like from the outside?

That's it, yeah. So, you don't know what's going on

behind the closed doors, do you?

Varkha Rani, 24, strangled in Walsall by her husband,

when she discovered their arranged marriage

was a cover for his homosexuality.

Gemma Finnigan, 24, strangled and stabbed in Tyne and Wear

by her mentally ill boyfriend,

who believed she was possessed by the Devil.

Marion Vita, 48, a mother of one, stabbed in Glasgow by her husband

of 19 years, after he discovered she was having a lesbian affair.

Neighbours say she was beautiful, kind and quiet.

Amina Bibi was often seen taking her two sons to mosque.

But in September last year, her life was cut brutally short

by two men, Frederick Best, a drug addict high on crack

on the day he killed her, and her husband, Mohamad Ali,

who paid Best a £100 deposit to stab her in a fake burglary.

On the morning of the murder, Best and Ali met briefly.

Ali took his younger son to school, then Best let himself in

with a key Ali had cut for him, and Amina Bibi was stabbed 72 times.

What do you feel about what happened to her?

I feel very bad. I feel very, very bad.

She was brutally murdered.

That's not a nice way to do... Not a nice way to end the relationship.

That's not the solution, no.

He should have divorced her, got separated from her.

He could have done anything, but not killing, no.

This is not the solution. No, not at all.

Mohamed Ali is in prison, serving 24 years for murder,

and Rizwana is raising the two boys.

Sabeen Thandi, 37 and mother of three, pregnant when she died,

strangled by her jealous husband in Forest Gate, east London.

Shivani Kapoor, 35, a mother of one.

Strangled in Middlesex by her husband,

a gambling addict who worked for Morgan Stanley.

PENS SCRATCH

So, girls, are you normally this peaceful

-and just playing quietly together?

-No.

-No.

What are you normally like?

-We are, like, all arguing.

-Fighting and arguing.

-Do you argue a lot?

-Yes.

-Mm-hm.

-Have you always argued a lot?

-Yeah.

-Sort of.

Yes! The answer's yes.

And what did your mum used to say when you used to argue?

-She used to say, "Be quiet!"

-She just said, "Be quiet,"

and Daddy used to send us on the naughty step.

-What did you call her?

-Blondie.

She was what you'd call a typical dumb blonde at times.

-My mummy likes this colour...

-She likes pink and purple best.

She likes pink and purple best. That's why I'm using purple.

And I've done a heart pink-and-purple striped.

Right, oh, yeah.

I'm doing this fully purple.

'She loved the girls. She thought the world of the girls.

'She'd do anything for them.'

She used to love them kids to bits.

She actually loved him to bits. She actually told me that one day.

What did she say, Stuart?

She said that he used a certain, um, shower gel

and he smelt like chocolate, and she said,

"He got out of shower t'other day and I love him that much

"I could have eaten him. He's absolutely gorgeous."

So we never thought this would happen.

Is that a picture of your mum, there?

-Yes, it is.

-That's me mum. There.

This one.

Can you point to your mum for me, Isobel?

There.

Are either of you in that picture?

-Just Isobel.

-I'm there.

SHE GIGGLES

I'm tickly.

Chantelle met Steven Barnsdale-Quean in 1998

when they were both working in a nursing home.

Things moved very quickly, really.

They didn't seem to have been together five minutes

before he'd moved into Chantelle's house.

He had no friends... Strange.

I nicknamed him Billy No-Mates.

It was as if he didn't want to leave Chantelle on her own.

Was he ever physically violent or abusive to Chantelle

that you were ever aware of?

Not that I'm aware of, no. Not at all.

Not physically, no.

But he used to check her Facebook messages.

He used to check her telephone.

He was in control of all the financial things, you know?

He'd have Chantelle's bank card and if Chantelle needed money,

he'd go to the bank and he'd get the money out.

I cannot imagine how she allowed the money to be spent

without her knowledge, um, debt to be built up without her knowledge.

After 14 years together, Chantelle discovered that Stephen

had secretly run up considerable debts.

The family house was repossessed, and they were rehoused by the council.

What we didn't realise at the time was that he was hiding mail again.

He was hiding letters underneath units, the dining-room units,

underneath the spare wheel in the car.

All odd places that you wouldn't expect to find mail.

So, the debt was building up again and he was concealing it again?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Mm-hm.

Stephen had used a one-metre length of chain

that's used for hanging baskets

that he bought from B&Q two weeks earlier.

He'd used a hair bobble to connect that, put it over her head,

insert a rolling pin and start to tighten the chain around her neck.

This was described by the pathologist as a Spanish windlass,

which is basically a mechanism where, when you turn it,

it stays in that position and then you can turn it again,

so you're tightening it all the time

and, obviously, it stopped her breathing.

I know about this piece of chain,

because Chantelle had showed it me

and she said, "Stephen has bought this chain.

"He's going to hang some pictures up with it." And he never did it.

So, whether he knew when he bought it what he was going to do with it,

I don't know.

Why did he kill her?

-We don't know.

-We don't know.

We're assuming that it was all about money.

-Do you know how old she was, your mum?

-35.

And if you think it's weird, her young...

her younger brother is turning older than his oldest sister.

It's a bit weird, if you actually think about it, and it's a bit...

It's really, really weird and confusing.

What have you told them about what happened?

We told them that Daddy had killed Mummy.

We didn't tell them how it had happened,

but one of the neighbours' children

told them that Daddy had strangled Mummy.

-And they don't ask questions beyond that?

-No.

Do you miss your mum a lot?

-Mm-hm.

-Yeah.

-It's, like, really hard.

And what about your dad? Do you miss your dad?

-A bit, not a lot.

-I don't miss him.

It...cos...um...

I hate him.

I don't miss him that much.

Dimitrina Borisova, 46,

stabbed 17 times in the street in Sheffield by her ex-boyfriend,

who had lost a custody battle over their two-year-old son.

Victoria Rose, 58, shot dead in Wiltshire by her ex-boyfriend,

a retired police inspector, who then shot himself.

She was very cheeky.

We were always very close. She was always the joker of the family.

When she hit teenage years, she became a depressive.

What age did that happen?

Um, well, when she was in school,

she fell in with the wrong people, when she was about 15, 16.

And she didn't do very well at her exams because of that.

And I think, from there, she just... Her behaviour got worse.

Was she depressed to the extent that she was diagnosed with depression?

Yes. Yeah, she did...

Not...not straightaway but as the years went on,

she was diagnosed as a depressive, and then it was only very recently,

probably a year before she died, that she was diagnosed

with borderline personality disorder.

Do you know when she met Steven Williams?

I think they worked in a bar. She used to do bar work sometimes.

She'd have different bar jobs

and I think they'd met in a bar at some point,

but they hadn't got together,

but she was only seeing him

for about three weeks before he stabbed her.

And we didn't even know she was seeing him.

All she wanted was to find someone

and be in a relationship and be loved,

so that's why she was always headfirst into everything

and she'd already said to her friends that she was really happy

and he was lovely and he might be the one,

because that's... Unfortunately, that's what she did.

And I think he saw that and took advantage of it.

Jane McRae, 55.

Julie Beattie, 24.

Rosemary Gill, 48.

Alexandra Kovacs, 25.

Jean Redfern, 67.

Keisha McKenzie, 28.

What was the first that you knew that anything had happened?

I got a message on Facebook from one of her friends saying to me,

"Oh, my God, what's happened?

"I've heard Jo's been airlifted to hospital."

And I said, "What the hell? I don't know what you're talking about."

So I rang Mum and Dad,

and they said that the police had rung them and said...

They didn't tell them what had happened.

We all thought Jo being Jo, she'd got drunk

and got into a fight or she'd been self-harming.

I said, "I don't want to start panicking until, you know,

"we know what's happened."

And I think the police got there at Mum's in the afternoon

and Mum rang me and said,

"The policewoman wants to have a word with you."

And that's when she said,

"Your sister has been stabbed a number of times...

"..and you might want to come and see her."

They basically were saying,

"We don't know if she's going to make it."

They thought they were going to have to amputate her arms...

..because the wounds were so bad.

So, we got straight in the car and went straight to the hospital

and met Mum and Dad there.

We all thought she was going to be OK, because she was awake,

she was lucid.

Um...

I said, "Who did this to you?"

She said, "Oh, it was somebody I know.

"He's called Steven Williams."

She said they'd had a row in the evening

and he tried to rip a radio off the wall.

So she told him to leave, and she said he'd flipped

and got a knife from the kitchen and started stabbing her.

And he sat with her for five or six hours waiting for her to die.

At one point, she said she remembers taking a really deep breath

and he said, "Oh, will you just fucking die?"

The next day was the Sunday. We went back in to see her in the afternoon.

She was awake again.

She was obviously on a lot of morphine but she was being Jo.

She was joking with the police officers.

They were trying to take DNA from under her nails

and she was joking with them saying,

"Watch that nail, because I pick my nose with that one."

She was just being Jo.

On the Sunday, we finally spoke to someone and they told us

how serious it was, but they sort of said,

"Well, you know, she's out of the woods."

But, yeah, we all thought she was going to be OK

but then, the next morning,

we rang the hospital and they said she'd had problems breathing.

She was getting distressed, so they had to sedate her

and put her on a ventilator, and she never came out of it.

Linah Keza, 29.

Anu Kapoor, 27.

Mayurathy Perinpamoorihy, 32.

Caroline Parry, 49.

Michelle Giles, 43.

Judith Maude, 57.

Describe your mum's personality to me.

She was a bubbly, friendly, outgoing person.

She enjoyed helping others.

-She was really caring, she'd do anything for anyone.

-Yeah.

Can you describe your father's personality to me?

Controlling.

He's...

-He's not a very nice man.

-No.

I always spent a lot of time with my dad.

Like, I used to go to rugby with him

every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

I used to come up my bamp's a lot to see the animals.

He used to take me out on the horse on the weekends,

if we didn't have rugby.

I was a lot closer to my dad than my other sisters.

-But you were a daddy's girl?

-Yeah.

When you were little, what was it like being around him?

Walking on eggshells. I didn't know what was going to happen when,

and how he's going to wake up, what sort of mood he was going to be in.

Did he have a temper, Sophia?

Yeah, like, most of it was, like, from when he'd work himself up

and he didn't know how to let his emotions out

and then he'd just let them out, like, through...

like, throwing a cup or something.

Like, it wasn't abuse,

like, domestic abuse,

it was nothing like that.

It was more, like, taking things out on objects close to him,

rather than people or anything to hurt someone.

He'd pull TVs off the wall,

throw microwaves through windows.

The most serious thing is, he lit the house on fire

whilst Sameera, Sophia and my mum were in the house.

What was your dad's job?

He was a builder.

And what was your mum's job? Did she work?

The jobs that she did have weren't for long periods of time

because he would be controlling her.

He'd hide her shoes, so she couldn't go to work, or hide the car keys.

He put an app on the phone

so whenever she had a text, it'd read out the name.

Or whenever she had a phone call, it would read out the name

so he knew who she was speaking to.

-What, it would speak the name out loud?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I know it sounds crazy, but she stayed with him for a quieter life.

It's hard to move your family

away from what they know,

their surroundings... You know, their school, their friends.

She was trying to do her best for her kids.

In 2011, Kelvin's behaviour became increasingly erratic

and he made the decision to leave the family home.

He still had control over my mum because we still lived in the house.

He'd come up in the morning, about 8 o'clock,

make sure she was up from bed by making her a cup of tea,

and then he'd come back during the day

whilst he was in work, and after work.

Mum knew that he was still controlling her.

My sisters are making him out to be ten times worse

than what he actually was.

He used to come up, he used to light the fire, make a cup of tea,

go and sort the dogs out, do any work out the back.

So, I don't think he'd put himself in that situation,

knowing, if he was just controlling her,

that he'd have to go and do all that just to keep an eye on her.

Reema Ramzan, 18, beheaded by her boyfriend

with a kitchen knife in Sheffield.

Rania Alayed, 25, murdered by her violent husband

after she left him, fearing for her life.

Her body has never been found.

Lilima Akter, 27, murdered in Birmingham by her estranged husband,

nine years after their arranged marriage in Bangladesh.

-NEWSREADER:

-'A man from Bridgend has been found guilty

'of murdering his wife by strangling her with a dog lead.

'Assia Newton was found in the bedroom of her home

'in Penclacwydd last July.'

Do you think that he planned to kill your mum?

No, I think, like, it was a...

like, an out-of-the-blue thing,

like an argument come, he went to do something

and then it just happened, like...

It was too late before he could do anything.

Do you think that your father PLANNED to kill your mother?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Cos she was going to be happy.

She was going to have a life without him and he...he didn't want that.

He realised that his control was slipping on her.

She was a possession,

and, I believe, that he felt his control was slipping.

Zaneta Kindzierska, 32.

Asma Begum, 21.

Linzi Ashton, 25.

PHONE RINGS

-Hello.

-'All right?'

-Yeah, are you?

-'Yeah, not too bad.'

Good, what have you been doing, then? Making anything?

-'Um, a bench.'

-Oh, is it?

-'Yeah.'

My birthday's coming up, mind. You best make something for that.

You best get thinking.

'You don't want a jewellery box or anything, do you?'

Well, I got one. You made me one.

'Can you explain where Sophia is now?

'She chose to live with Kelvin's family.

'We just find it so disrespectful

'after all we've been through, not just my mum, as well,

'but all we've been through, and she decided to side with him.'

We don't want anything to do with her.

'One minute on Facebook, she'll write about my mum

'and how much she misses her,

'but then she'll write how she's in contact and talking to Daddy...

'Can't wait to see him.'

He's the one that's done this.

He's... The reason my mum's not here today

is because he's murdered her.

She just doesn't make sense.

Like, I don't understand why someone would want to be in contact

with someone that's murdered your mum.

He's still my dad. I can't switch off my feelings.

Like, maybe my sisters have. Like, I can't do that.

I won't forgive him for what he's done, but he is still my dad.

SHE GIGGLES

'Yeah, I will make you something.

'A little jewellery box, but with drawers.'

-Well, that will have to do, then, won't it?

-'Yeah, it'll have to!'

THEY LAUGH

You've got gym. I'll leave you and go, cos I've got college, as well.

'All right, then. Love you.'

Love you, ta-ra. Yeah, ta-ra, ta-ra, ta-ra...

Kate Dixon, 40, Cambridge graduate

and manager at Islington Council,

stabbed in south London by her ex-boyfriend

when he found out she was seeing another man.

Denise Williamson, 44, stabbed in Nottinghamshire by her fiance,

who tracked her phone calls and e-mails,

paranoid she was having an affair.

Her body was found by her 17-year-old autistic son.

-What relationship was Chloe to you?

-She was my mother.

-And what relationship was Argyrios to you?

-He was my stepfather.

She was very stylish. Her hair always looked great.

I've never seen her come and ever have a bad-hair day.

Her clothes were lovely. She always looked good.

All her stuff is neat, look in the drawers.

There's her nightdresses, look. There's her nightdress...

still folded up.

She was so neat and tidy.

She was very friendly, very warm.

She likes chatting,

she likes to have a cup of tea.

So, you would have a cup of tea with her, would you?

Yeah, whenever she sees me, "Come and have a cup of tea with me."

I had to drop everything, working, and then go to her, yeah.

Roughly how old was your mum and how old was Argyrios when they met?

Um, I think he was 35

and Mum would be about 46.

That's Argyrios, there, when they got married.

That's their wedding day. That's their wedding day.

There.

She never changed much, actually.

Annabella, that's Annabella.

Did he have a job?

No!

Did he ever have a job?

Um, maybe casually.

But not properly. No, my mum provided.

I didn't warm to him. I felt that he was up to something.

After Mum had only been married to him a few weeks,

he went off with an 18-year-old to Greece,

so it confirmed our suspicions that he wasn't a nice person.

-Was he ever physically violent towards her?

-Yes.

Once, we were in Greece, um,

he was driving and he...

Something happened, my mother told him to watch something in the road

and he turned round and he hit her in the eye

and he had this big sovereign ring.

So, you know, he was violent. He had hurt my mother.

One day she was locked out.

She didn't have the key so she knocked at my door

and then I came with her,

and then she knocked the door.

He came down...

and, literally, I think he slapped her, you know.

-He slapped her in front of you?

-Yeah, yeah.

He slapped her, pushed her, you know, how...?

He was a very strong man, very strong man.

And I think she had to go to the hospital for that. Yeah...

She wanted to keep it to herself.

Not talk to the police or anybody, you know?

I mean, that's where she has gone wrong.

Right from the beginning, she should have told the police.

But she kept quiet. I don't know why.

-Was she a proud person?

-Yes.

I think she would have been quite sort of...

not "ashamed", that's not the right word,

but maybe a little bit embarrassed to tell her family

the extent of what was going on.

Gail Lucas, 51, and mother of two,

attacked in her car in Leeds by her ex-partner

who ignored court orders to stay away from her.

Orina Morawiec, 21,

stabbed to death in south-east London by her husband,

who feared deportation to Afghanistan if she divorced him.

In 2008, Chloe ended her relationship with Argyrios.

They divided the house into two flats, and Argyrios moved upstairs.

He started to become deluded, paranoid deluded, and, um,

he said that there was an assassination plot -

that her brothers were colluding to get him killed.

I wanted to take my mother away from there, but she wouldn't go.

That was her home, and she wouldn't leave.

-When was the last time that you saw your mother?

-December.

Did she mention Argyrios at that time?

Well, he was looming around,

but he didn't look well.

Did he go to the doctor?

Yes.

They took two X-rays.

The second X-ray showed cancer

and this is what triggered everything off.

This is what led up to my mum's murder.

Julie Connaughton, 57, attacked with a hammer in Chesterfield

by her husband of nine years when she filed for divorce.

Jane Wiggett, 57, strangled in Cheltenham by her ex-husband,

who had been violent towards her throughout their 30-year marriage.

I saw the flame and I took the phone

and came quickly outside and rang 999.

-'Hello.

-Hello?

-Fire brigade.

'There is a fire, a big fire

'on Fallow Court Avenue, N12. Please come quickly!

-'What's on fire?

-It is the whole place burning! The house is burning!

'Right, can you get outside?

'I've come outside! It's my neighbour!

-'Please!

-OK, the fire brigade is on the way.

-'Please!

-Do you know if there's anybody... OK.

'Hello! Everything is burning! Please, come quick!'

What I understand, um, what he did was...

I don't know if he came up at Mum from behind,

but there was mention that there was a towel on her head.

I think maybe he put the towel over her head,

blunt-force trauma on the head,

broke her jaw, slit her throat

and then he put her on the floor,

he put all pillows and different things round her,

he doused her with petrol and olive oil

and he turned off all the fire alarms and he tried to set the gas

so that he was hoping to explode the flat.

Where was he found, Muireann?

At the top of the stairs.

He actually hung himself and he...

The rope broke and he fell down.

Why did he kill her?

Why? Out of spite and malevolence.

Basically, that's it.

And I think he always thought that my mum would die first.

-MUIREANN:

-He thought, "Well, if I'm going, you're not staying. End of."

-ANNA:

-Why should she go like that?

SOBBING

She didn't deserve to go like THAT.

You know, we're all going to die at one point, but...

..she should have gone in comfort, with her family there.

She was, you know... She could have lived another ten years more.

She was healthy. There was nothing wrong with her, you know?

Just...

It's just wrong.

Betty Gallagher, 87.

Lisa Banks, 46.

My whole life has changed now.

I went off the rails massively.

I went out and I got in trouble.

You know, I got in fights and arguments

and I just turned into a complete and utter mess.

And are you all right now?

I'll never be OK. You'll never, ever be OK.

And has it made you wary or mistrustful of...

-Everyone.

-..boys since then?

I'm like it with everybody now.

I don't really trust anybody.

And do you think it will have affected

your capacity to have a relationship?

Yeah.

Most definitely.

Yeah.

I didn't realise.

It has, hasn't it?

Annie Beaver, 81, killed in Hampshire

by her husband of 40 years. Both were suffering from dementia.

Sharon Hayter, 54, beaten to death with a claw hammer

by her husband, who also killed their disabled daughter.

Poonam Kumar, 35,

strangled in Southall by her husband, who then hanged himself.

-Look at them daffodils. They're pretty.

-Yeah, they are.

-I like that heart.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Tell her you've brought her a drink.

-Mummy, I've brought you a drink.

-She liked to have a drink of vodka, didn't she? You do it.

-You do it.

That's it. There you go, Chants.

She's drinking it. You can tell, can't you?

Yeah, it's going down, isn't it, now.

-She must be enjoying that drink.

-Yeah.

-Do you think so?

-Mm-hm.

Yeah.

Jayden Parkinson, 17.

Victoria Adams, 22.

Mahnaz Raffie, 48.

Kerry Power, 36.

Janet Lockhart, 29.

Shamim Gabriel, 33.