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Original poster

The Murder of Julia James

130 replies

saraclara · 02/05/2021 09:57

Why is it getting no real publicity? Why aren't all the women who wanted to hold a vigil for Sarah Everard equally angered and wanting to do something about Julia James' murder? Where is Kate with her posy?

I got pretty much ripped apart back then when I questioned why specifically Sarah Everard's murder got the attention it did when others hadn't.

Both murders seem to have been of women minding their own business and attacked by strangers.

I still can't help feeling that the difference in media and the public's reaction is based on entirely superficial differences of age, attractiveness and...I don't know? What else?

Many people go missing. Many women are murdered. Obviously my heart breaks for what happened to Sarah Everard, but why are other murdered women not given that same attention? The anger then made people feel so strongly that they defied covid regulations to make their point. But I suspect barely anyone could come up with Julia James' name

OP posts:
Original poster
saraclara · 02/05/2021 13:17

Anyway why are you waiting for someone else to make an almighty fuss. If you feel strongly you can organise a vigil.

What a weird response to an observation and discussion. Can we not comment on anything we're not doing ourselves?

I spend most of my free time supporting and campaigning for a different sector of the vulnerable and ignored. And we campaign for and tell the stories of the people we support, whatever their age, sex or 'marketability'

OP posts:
EsmaCannonball · 02/05/2021 14:09

These murders always resonate with me but most of them get very little media attention. Ellen Higginbottom was pretty much the perfect victim in media terms but her death coincided with a time when stories on terrorism were hot and therefore garnered little attention. Lindsay Birbeck was also killed while out for an afternoon walk, but she was middle-aged so the press didn't care much.

The assumption that the media is ho-hum about domestic murders but ravenous about sexually-motivated stranger murders annoys me because most of the latter get ignored too. I also get annoyed when the 'two women murdered every week' statistic gets trotted out because that figure is just concerning adult females under a certain age killed by a current or former partner.

lollipoprainbow · 02/05/2021 14:44

I could never understand the outpouring of emotion and media attention that SE got to be honest. Presumably if she had been a plain, working class, ordinary woman the media wouldn't have cared less.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 02/05/2021 14:49

I walk in the woods with my dog and as expected my dm mentioned Julia James to me
it is horrible, RIP to her, but no CCTV in that part of the world i suspect.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 02/05/2021 14:50

i think the difference is the huge amount of CCTV available for SE, and it was shocking because it wasnt late at night.

2021ismyyear · 02/05/2021 14:55

Because she was middle aged and worked for the police (lots of people don’t like the police)

Either that or because something else is going on that we (the public) don’t know about yet..

LizzieMacQueen · 02/05/2021 14:57

Is it not just because we were all 'involved' in real-time, like a live stream event with Sarah? Her unfortunate dreadful death became more real to the collective 'us'.

The point was made at the time when Jess Phillips I think it was read out the names of the women who'd been murdered in the past year. There was commentary too on the 6 women & girls killed in the week between Saran going missing and being found dead.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 02/05/2021 15:04

i think the SE took a few days to get going?

AbsolutelyPatsy · 02/05/2021 15:07

Julia James worked with victims of domestic abuse so perhaps it wasnt a stranger?
the police are being tightlipped

MumofSpud · 02/05/2021 15:11

I think (and obviously this is JUST my opinion) that it is because the police do know who they are looking for.
It has happened before - media appears 'less interested' in a case and then they make an arrest of a person known to the victim.
But I also appreciate that there is 'missing white woman syndrome' as wellAngry

AbsolutelyPatsy · 02/05/2021 15:12

SE case was different, she was missing, and there was plenty of CCTV, it was 9.30 at night, not late, in a busy time, and the man was part of the police force Shock

this new case is totally different.

tecatea · 02/05/2021 15:25

it was 9.30 at night, not late,

Other people have mentioned the time but I don't really understand it. It wasn't 1am but it was dark, are women more likely to get murdered by strangers at midnight? I'm not sure they are. And is it more acceptable if it happened at 1am because she shouldn't have been walking alone at that time?

Tuesdaysintheazores · 02/05/2021 15:33

SE went missing on a very busy road with plenty of CCTV so there was more of a public appeal because people would have seen her, driven past, have ring doorbells and all of that.

AdoptedBumpkin · 02/05/2021 15:37

I was thinking this last night. Seems to mostly have been overlooked on social media as well, from what I have seen.

Probably a mixture of the reasons others have given. It's sad.

BobBobBobbin · 02/05/2021 15:38

I’m not disputing that ‘missing white woman’ syndrome exists. I also think London bias in the media plays a part.

But I agree with others that there were particular circumstances that led to Sarah Everard’s death receiving more attention.

Particularly important is it starting out as a missing person with possible witnesses - in these kind of circumstances police are actively trying to keep the case in the news by releasing new information. Plus of course Sarah’s family and friends were very active and may have been instrumental in it getting national publicity.

The fact that from the outset it seemed likely to be a stranger attack separated it out from most missing person cases.

The pace at which the case escalated meant there was sustained media interest.

And the suspect being a police officer really created a lot of outrage and upset and meant there was then heightened media involvement from the police (normally you wouldn’t get Cressida Dick making a statement on a case like this).

Sometimes certain cases do just become a lightening rod. Why did George Floyd’s death trigger that BLM movement, and not one of the other victims of police brutality?. Why did the death of Mark Duggan trigger the London riots?

CovidCorvid · 02/05/2021 15:38

I do wonder if the psco role is a reason for less coverage. People identified with Sarah Everard, it could have been them, their sister, daughter, girlfriend.

People like to minimise things in relation to themselves, oh it couldn’t happen to me because of xyz....and they struggled to do so in Sarah’s case. With Julia maybe people are subconsciously thinking/hoping it was some criminal bent on revenge. I mean it’s very unlikely but thinking this keeps people thinking they’re safer. It’s more palatable than a random attack. Plus people may think “well I wouldn’t walk by myself in the woods” (not that I’m victim blaming), so again another way to distance yourself/not identify with Julia.

But yes, the lack of coverage is shocking.

FlyingBurrito · 02/05/2021 15:40

@tecatea

it was 9.30 at night, not late,

Other people have mentioned the time but I don't really understand it. It wasn't 1am but it was dark, are women more likely to get murdered by strangers at midnight? I'm not sure they are. And is it more acceptable if it happened at 1am because she shouldn't have been walking alone at that time?

Can you really not understand why it's more shocking if a woman is abducted at a time that most of us can quite imagine being out and about at quite safely?

Lots of life is going on at 9.30 and we can put ourselves in shoes of someone walking at that time. Once it gets to midnight or 1am most of us aren't routinely out at that time so we don't quite identify with it, we think of it as a more dangerous time to be walking alone so something bad happening is a little less shocking.

Where are you seeing that anyone thinks it's acceptable?

SquirmOfEels · 02/05/2021 15:42

Sarah's friends worked in PR

Thee was an excellent social media campaign that then was picked up by MSM.

They were right to do it, because they loved her and wanted her found. But the bottom line is that most people's friends do not have the skills and the connections to run a campaign

Roonerspismed · 02/05/2021 15:44

It’s so sad but I wonder if more to the case than meets the eye - her job etc.

I also agree that media savvy friends and a missing person will generate huge interest

I’m very sorry in respect of both cases.

SquirmOfEels · 02/05/2021 15:44

Can you really not understand why it's more shocking if a woman is abducted at a time that most of us can quite imagine being out and about at quite safely?

Like out walking your dog, within a few hundred yards of your home, like Julia was?

Original poster
saraclara · 02/05/2021 15:44

@SquirmOfEels

Sarah's friends worked in PR

Thee was an excellent social media campaign that then was picked up by MSM.

They were right to do it, because they loved her and wanted her found. But the bottom line is that most people's friends do not have the skills and the connections to run a campaign

Yes. I suspect it comes down to that in the end.
OP posts:
BingBunnyIsAnnoying · 02/05/2021 15:53

I considered making a post about this but thought I'd probably get told IBU

I think this case has got a lot less publicity because the SE accused was a policeman. Somebody who is meant to serve and protect

GingerAndTheBiscuits · 02/05/2021 15:54

@SquirmOfEels

Can you really not understand why it's more shocking if a woman is abducted at a time that most of us can quite imagine being out and about at quite safely?

Like out walking your dog, within a few hundred yards of your home, like Julia was?

Absolutely this. Broad daylight.
Trumplosttheelection · 02/05/2021 15:54

Really different cases, really different coverage. It's not surprising.

What is surprising is the number of people on this thread posting as if the SE trial has taken place. It hasn't. We don't know who is responsible and posts that say that do, risk compromising the trial.

GingerAndTheBiscuits · 02/05/2021 15:55

I think this case has got a lot less publicity because the SE accused was a policeman. Somebody who is meant to serve and protect

But the coverage was well before that was known.