More than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for a new law that might have saved Leah Croucher from being murdered. The campaign, launched by her parents, seeks mandatory prison sentences for repeat sex offenders.
Campaign reaches milestone
Claire and John Croucher launched their Change.org petition on September 23. It has passed 100,000 signatures in less than a month, with more than 11,000 people signing in the past 24 hours alone.
Claire, 51, and John, 52, said: “This morning we got up early as we knew you had all helped us get close to the 100,000 signatures we were pushing for. At 7am we watched the number hit our target.”
Family's plea for support
They added: “We as a family are so grateful to each and every one of you for backing us. If you all continue to help share our petition, we believe it could grow even bigger. The more people sign, the louder our voices are heard. We are speaking to MPs on behalf of you all.”
“Help us show them how important this is to the people of the UK. Keep sharing, keep promoting, encourage people to keep signing. Help us help you to keep our loved ones safe.”
Political backing and inquest findings
The campaign has won the backing of Buckingham and Bletchley MP Callum Anderson, who met the family earlier this month. Mr Anderson has pledged to take the case for Leah's Law to the highest levels of government alongside fellow Milton Keynes MPs Emily Darlington and Chris Curtis. He said Sentencing Minister Jake Richards was already engaging with them.
An inquest found Neil Maxwell abducted, raped and killed Leah, 19, in February 2019 - a year after he was handed 200 hours of community service for sexually assaulting a woman instead of being jailed. Maxwell had already been given four jail terms for sexual offences, including rape and child abuse, in 1998, 2002, 2009 and 2010.
When he killed Leah, he was wanted over another sexual assault that happened three months earlier. Maxwell took his own life two months after the offence. Leah's dismembered body was not discovered until 2022, in the loft of a holiday home in Milton Keynes, Bucks, for which Maxwell was the key holder.
Senior coroner Tom Osborne called for a fundamental review of monitoring of sex offenders. He said failures in the monitoring of Maxwell by the probation service and police may have played a part in her death.
Proposed legislation details
The family's online petition states: "Mandatory minimums exist for domestic burglary and Class A drug trafficking."
"There's no justifiable reason sexual offending should be treated more leniently. By a third conviction, the offender has not been sufficiently deterred from further offending. Where a case falls below that threshold, we are calling for a District Judge to oversee sentencing in all repeat sexual offence cases, so a decision like the one that let Maxwell walk free can never be made again. This would have ensured he had no opportunity to kill Leah."
The family also want families to be able to access Article 2 inquests, which probe whether the state may have failed in its duty to protect life. They also want action to allow grieving families access to legal aid. Care home manager Claire previously said: "Even if he'd been alive and we'd gone to trial, we would not have been entitled to be legal aid - but he would."
