As each name was called, my heart shattered. And tears streamed from my eyes, the eary silence and harsh truth – 113 lives lost. Another year. More women and children taken by violence. When will it end?
Most were killed by a man they knew—a partner, an ex, a family member. Not by a stranger in a dark alley, but by someone they trusted. Murdered in their own homes—the very place that should have been their sanctuary.
Among them were Juliana Falcon (48), Kyle Prosper (16), and Giselle Prosper (13)—their futures stolen. And here, in my own town of Luton, four lives were taken. It feels raw. Too close. Too real. Because it is.
We all stood together at the Million Women Protest March, walking in solidarity, grief, and defiance. But honouring them is not enough—we must demand change.
So, what will end this?
1. Stronger laws and enforcement. Domestic abusers must face real consequences before it’s too late.
2. Education from an early age. Boys must be taught that control is not love. 3. Girls must be empowered to recognise red flags. 4. Funding for women’s refuges and support services. No woman should be turned away when she seeks safety. 5. A shift in culture. No more silence. No more “it’s not my business.” Every one of us has a role in stopping this. 6. Protection orders must be stronger, properly enforced, and carry real consequences when breached.
Right now, too many women get restraining orders against violent partners, yet those partners continue to harass, stalk, and even kill them—often with little to no intervention from authorities. A protection order should be more than just a piece of paper; it should come with:
Immediate police response when breached Serious legal consequences, including jail time Electronic monitoring for high-risk offenders Automatic risk assessments to prevent escalation Without proper enforcement, these orders fail to protect the very people they are meant to safeguard. Women shouldn’t have to live in fear after seeking help. A system that fails to act until it’s too late is a system that must change.
To the families left behind—I see you. I hold space for your pain. And to every woman and girl living in fear—you are not alone.
We must turn remembrance into #ActionInMotion. We must #AccelerateAction. Until no more names are added to this list.
My throwback Thursday this week was first shared during one of the lockdowns, I was going live every day and sharing motivation or a thought for the day, who do you think you are?
I’ve cut the video to remove the hellos and comments of support so you just get the message this time.
It was triggered by a message in messenger asking me who did I think I was.
Do you know who you are?
Often after abuse people have no clue who they are, they are lost, the person they were before the abusive relationship is gone and they need to find out who they are again, that’s where GEM comes in.
In order for GEM to keep helping ladies find who they are after abuse please join us at The Hope Gala Ball raising much needed funds, or consider gifting a ticket if you can’t be there, I’ll drop the link to GEM’s website below
This week for Windrush Wednesday I’m talking about Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, DBE.
What can you say about Dame Jessica that hasn’t been said already?
Now retired she is best known for winning an Olympic gold medal and being a part of the Super Saturday evening of the London 2012 Olympics. At the time of winning her Olympic gold she was also world and European champion at that point as well.
She was introduced to sport by her mum who enjoyed high jump and her Jamaican dad who favoured sprinting. When she appeared on Desert Island Discs she revealed that her grandfather would offer her cash incentives as a reward for her initial successes in her early track competitions.
I was going to list her medals and awards but quite frankly I’d run out of characters to post.
One thing I learned that I didn’t know, but that makes me love her a little more is that she used to have a stand named after her at Bramall Lane, home of Sheffield United. In November 2014 she stated that she wanted her name removed from the stand if the club ever re-signed a former player who was a convicted rapist. After stating this she received horrific threats on social media that South Yorkshire police took very seriously. In 2015 the club renamed the stand after a sponsor!
I love everything that she’s achieved but speaking up like that and removing her name from a stand at the football ground of her club for that reason is just amazing!
As you know I have the Hope Gala Ball coming up soon, we are raising funds to enable GEM – Global Empowerment Movement to continue their work in supporting women survivors of abuse. If you’d like to join us at the ball we still have a few tickets available, just follow this link and get your tickets here.
This is still an ongoing case so there isn’t too much information about it in the public domain.
Police were called on the morning on February 18th to a property in Hamilton Park North, Lanarkshire, when they arrived they discovered the dead body of Darrell Buchanan, the police had been called after reports of a disturbance.
Her husband is on remand pending trial – he has appeared in court a couple of times but hasn’t lodged a plea yet.
This case is slightly different for me because there has been no reports that we are aware of at the moment of domestic violence, they appeared to be a happily married couple, the age difference she was 37 and he was 64 at the time of the murder, they lived in a nice part of town and seemed to be living a good life.
What shocks me about it is I hadn’t heard of it, it was shown to me – I’m wondering if it’s not made any news in England that I’ve seen because she’s a black woman? I’m wondering if it was a well of white woman we might have heard more?
I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on it when it goes to trial.
If you are interested in other Truth Tuesday posts, it’s still relatively knew, so far I have talked about Denise Keane-Simmons and Logan Mwangi.
Blondel is the daughter of Windrushers from Anguila.
Blondel has been a solicitor for over 37 years and is a fellow of Kings College, London where she was a member of the college council for several years, focusing on institutional change, governance and investment, she has also written several books about the West Indies.
She has held various public appointments addressing communities, education, health and heritage, having recently retired as a diplomat she represented the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, she supported the territory through hurricane Irma, constitutional reform and in its preparations for Brexit.
Blondel is CEO of the West India Committee, the committee was founded in the City of London in 1735 and is the oldest body representative of the Commonwealth. The committee is a UK registered charity and Royal Charter Institution and is custodian of a UNESCO inscribed library and collection on the Caribbean and a Consulting NGO of UNESCO.
While she has retired from as a diplomat she is still a member of the Windrush Cross-Government working group which brings together community organisations with government representatives to support the deliver of practical solutions to address challenges affecting the Windrush generation and their families.
I just think she is amazing and even though she faced issues being female and black she still pushed the glass ceiling and is still pushing it.
If you’d like to help GEM empower and inspire the next generation then please join me at The Hope Gala Ball later this month, tickets are available at this link
