The murder of Bethany Hill

[Bragadocia]

In the Commons yesterday, Jess Phillips read a list of women murdered by men in the past year. According to Hansard, Bethany Hill did not appear on this year's list, not last year's (her death was on 3 February 2016, the conviction of her killers was January 2017).

Bethany was murdered by a man and transwoman. Why has Bethany's death not been acknowledged?

I don't understand why her name was removed - surely the point is to acknowledge and remember the women murdered by men. Even if you believed transwomen are women, then Bethany Hill was still murdered by a man as both Jack and "Kayleigh" murdered her.

I wonder if anyone has asked Jess Phillips on twitter?

I just have.

Oh good I wonder if you'll get a reply?

It sounds like this was just an issue of timing. Bethany didn't get added until recently, and only new people within the last 12 months were read out.

If that makes sense.

IndominusRex

Can you tell Karen Ingala Smith, too?

I think we may follow each other

Total place mark. I follow Jess Philips on twitter. She does good things so I'm another one who will be hugely disappointed if it's deliberate.

Wasn't there a lady killed recently by her son? And they never released her name as her son was 17 and his anonymity protected? That just makes me so angry.

place marking

What Norma said.
It's looking like Bethany may not have been on the list at the point when Jess or her aides accessed it, as her name was added recently rather than at the time.

Ah I hope this was the case.

Waves at ageingrunner

Countess have any of them commented publically that it was a timing issue? I haven't seen that response elsewhere.

Hopefully that's the case re her not yet being on the list. Hi Indominus 👋

It's not impossible that Bethany's name was omitted from the list at the time it was read out. However:

The people who carried out Bethany's murder on the 3rd Feb were charged on 7th Feb and appeared in court the next day. Rose Hill and Julie Hill, the last names to be read on the chronological list, were killed on 26th Feb, and their murderer charged on the 29th.

I don't see why Bethany's name wouldn't have been put on the list by the compiler when the murder happened - it wasn't exactly an ignored story, and received a lot of coverage in the days following her death (you can run a Google news search for the relevant days).

I'm inclined to agree that it was an unfortunate timing issue. Bethany's name wasn't listed on Karen Ingala Smith's website until January 2017. Internet archive copies confirm this.

However, Bethany's name should have been included in the 2107 reading to make up for the fact it was missed in 2016.

Gah, 2017, not 2107!

I've just realised that my username could be confused as a namechange of HairyLittlePoet. Just wanted to clarify that I'm not the same Hairy. I am very hairy. I'm a rubbish poet, however.

I'll probably namechange now because I don't want Hairy to think I'm trying to impersonate, if she's still around

As others have clarified:
The list is compiled by Karen Ingala Smith
her sources are news reports which are brought to her attention
Bethany slipped the net and only came to Karen's attention a few weeks ago, whereupon she was added to the 2016 list
however, last year JP only received the list from which Bethany was absent.

This is really unlucky but now provides an opportunity for Bethany and also other women who were missed from the 2016 list to be included on future lists.

Now that we realise Karen is dependent on people making her aware of news reports of murders we can help her. I had assumed she had a different mechanism.

That's a relief. I'd hate to have thought politics had got in the way.

Karen does it all herself and lists the women on her website.

kareningalasmith.com/

I see that people often send a comment with someone she might have missed or not heard about, which she is always grateful for.

The fact that her list is used in an official capacity is brilliant. It can also be used to gather statistics on gender, so it's good to keep her informed.

But if the statistics are derived from effectively word of mouth, rather than from a definitive source, then I'd query whether it is indeed brilliant that they can used in an official capacity - the work needs to stand up to scrutiny.

I absolutely agree that it is a highly commendable endeavour though.

So, she wasn't deliberately excluded because of the confused (and confusing) gender identity of her killer?

I imagine it's an oversight.

I remember when Bethany's murder was reported and just how horrific it was. I was doubly shocked that a couple was responsible - i know women are capable of horrible cruel crimes but it was really chilling in how it was planned. When the trial results were reported in January and it was revealed that Woods was male - i felt doubly shocked that we are being lied to and gaslighted about the sex of the perpetrators. It's unbelievable how truth and history is being rewritten. Makes me doubt everything i'm reading now when it comes to how facts are being reported.

But it was reported that Woods was trans in the local media which is available online. The information was out there.