Murray family welcomes progress on ‘Charlotte’s Law’

THE family of a Tyrone woman murdered in 2012 is one step closer to achieving a landmark legal change in Northern Ireland as Justice Minister Naomi Long has announced the publication of a ‘Way Forward on Charlotte’s Law’.

This proposed legislation aims to help families of murder victims whose bodies have never been recovered, compelling convicted killers to disclose the location of their remains.

Charlotte Murray’s family have been leading the campaign for what has now become known as Charlotte’s Law. Their relentless fight began after Charlotte, a 34-year-old from Omagh, was murdered by her former fiancé, Johnny Miller, who has refused to reveal the whereabouts of her remains.

Miller was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019, with a minimum term of 16 years, but to this day, Charlotte’s body has never been found.

Determination

Driven by their grief and determination, Charlotte’s family launched a campaign for new laws that would pressure convicted murderers to reveal the whereabouts of their victims’ remains.

On Friday, the Justice Minister published the ‘Way Forward on Charlotte’s Law’ and responses to a public consultation on the proposed legislation.

She said, “During a debate on the Northern Ireland Assembly motion to introduce legislation similar to Helen’s Law, inspired by the campaign led by Charlotte Murray’s family and supported by Lisa Dorrian’s family, I expressed my intention to give careful consideration to the need for change in ‘no body’ murders, and, if change was appropriate, how this could be best tailored for Northern Ireland.

“I have given the responses to the consultation questions very careful consideration. I have also taken account of the families’ desire to be heard throughout the process.

“The Charlotte’s Law provisions will provide encouragement to those suspected of, charged with and sentenced for a ‘no-body’ killing to give details of the location of their victims’ remains or how the remains were disposed of.”

The Department plans to bring forward legislative measures in a Sentencing Bill. It is intended that the Bill will be brought forward during the remainder of the 2022-2027 Northern Ireland Assembly mandate.

The consultation responses and Way Forward are available on the DoJ website.

Ordeal

Welcoming the progress, Charlotte Murray’s mother Mary and sister, Sinead Corrigan said, “Shortly after we began our campaign, we were contacted by the Dorrian family who, unfortunately had been suffering the same ordeal as ourselves for much longer, but without any justice as no one had ever been convicted or even put before a court for the murder of Lisa.

“We have been fortunate to sit down with the Dorrian family and officials from the Department of Justice to discuss many aspects of the proposed ‘Charlotte’s Law’, which we feel will benefit not only our families, but any future families who find themselves in this unfortunate set of circumstances.

“This is not something we could ever have imagined we would have to suffer, have to endure or fight for but we hope that the legislation, once implemented, would best serve anyone in these tragic circumstances.

“Whilst we have justice with Johnny Miller behind bars serving a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 16 years, we just want him to reveal the location of Charlotte’s remains so that we can lay her to rest, like she deserves. We hope and pray that the provisions of ‘Charlotte’s Law’ will provide this, as every other effort to date has failed.”