Family of murdered lady traumatised after being handed picture of her killer laughing by police | EUROtoday

The household of a murdered lady say they had been traumatised after being handed a photograph by law enforcement officials of her killer upon his launch from jail – just for it to indicate him brazenly smiling.

Emma King has spent the final 20 years rebuilding her life after shedding her sister Julie, who was strangled to loss of life by her ex-husband Richard Butcher in 2005.

He was jailed for all times with a minimal time period of 13 years after pleading responsible to her homicide, which noticed him lure the 25-year-old to the home underneath the pretence of gathering keys, just for him to launch his deadly assault.

From 2016 onwards, Julie’s household knew that her killer would quickly be up for launch and had been horrified to be taught he meant to return to the identical space of Swindon the place they lived.

“He was released in October 2020 and I told our liaison officers that I didn’t want to be going through the streets wondering if he was behind me,” Emma informed The Independent. They had been knowledgeable they might obtain an up to date {photograph} of Butcher by means of the sufferer contact scheme that gives help to these affected by severe crimes.

“Our police liaison officers came out and sat in my living room and were apologetic and said, ‘We do have to disclose he is smiling,’” she mentioned.

“Out of everything a family goes through, to then get handed an inappropriate photo is absolutely shocking. He’s taken away our family, years of our lives spent going through processes and procedures, and it only seems fitting that these pictures are properly managed.”

She is now calling for “Julie’s Law” in a web based petition, which might implement nationwide steering in order that offender images used inside the legal justice system comply with a impartial identification format, much like that required by passports and driving licences.

She added: “At the time, I accepted the photograph because it was presented as part of the safety process. He was already approved by parole for release; they were already searching for his accommodation and could be released at any point.

“I was not informed that alternative images could be requested, nor was there any clear guidance explaining what the photograph might contain or what options were available. In that moment, without national standards or clear procedures, it did not feel like a fully informed choice. The two police officers were already in my living room.”

Upon his launch, her household confronted one other battle to make sure that Butcher couldn’t return to dwell in the identical space, ultimately securing a 2.5-mile exclusion zone after a “torturous” technique of offering the places of each place they frequently used on a map.

In August, the federal government introduced plans for brand spanking new “restriction zones” which as a substitute confine severe sexual and violent offenders to particular areas through obligatory GPS tagging. The new restriction zones are a part of the Sentencing Bill 2025, which is presently into account in Parliament.

“The system shouldn’t harm the victims,” she mentioned. “I spent nearly three years in therapy – you can accept human error, and you can move forward without an apology, but I went out of therapy and thought ‘this isn’t okay’.”

Prior to her loss of life, Julie and Emma had been shut associates, in addition to siblings. “She was an absolutely incredible sister; she taught me a lot of things in life,” she mentioned. “She was always smiling, no matter what she was going through.”

Despite Julie’s efforts to placed on a courageous face, her household had lengthy suspected she was in an abusive relationship, with Butcher’s behaviour escalating within the ultimate two weeks after she left him and moved out of the property.

On the morning of 15 November, she returned to their dwelling in Chiseldon to retrieve some belongings however was ambushed and killed. Not lengthy after the assault, Butcher phoned Emma to tell her that she wanted to take care of her sister, which led to her making the grotesque discovery.

After Julie’s loss of life, Emma was left devastated and struggled to depart her dwelling for 5 years, taking seven years to return to work.

She has since established the Swindon Sisters Alliance, a charity that helps home violence victims and supplies funds for households to get pleasure from days out, in addition to attend retreats at Julie’s Haven – a vacation dwelling by the ocean created in her reminiscence.

“I always say if it were on the other foot, she absolutely would have done the same,” Emma mentioned.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson mentioned: “Our thoughts remain with Emma King for the loss of her sister Julie, this was a horrendous crime, and we apologise for the distress the photograph caused.

“The police and probation services may decide to show a photo of an offender to a victim where it is necessary in order to protect the victim from serious harm. The police select the most recent photo of an offender to ensure it is as useful as possible but we understand the impact this can have, and we provide victim liaison officers to support victims throughout this.”

Wiltshire Police declined to remark.