More Chantel's Law delays as minister resigns

A mother who is campaigning for a change in the sentencing of murderers who hide their victim's body has had a planned meeting with a government minister delayed due to the recent political uncertainty in Westminster.

Jean Taylor's daughter Chantel, 27, was killed in Birkenhead, Wirral, by former soldier Stephen Wynne in 2004.

He was released on parole this year, despite never revealing where the mother-of-three's remains had been concealed.

Taylor was due to meet with justice minister Alex Davies-Jones to discuss her campaign but she resigned on Tuesday.

The Pontypridd MP resigned from the Home Office, describing last week's local election results as "catastrophic" for the Labour Party, and urging the Prime Minister Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure "in the country's interest".

Taylor wants Chantel's Law to be introduced for "those who go beyond murder" - making concealment or desecration of a body a separate crime.

Davies-Jones has said the Law Commission was examining the issue and had agreed to meet Taylor.

Taylor said she wanted the meeting "sooner rather than later" but accepted about the delay while a successor is appointed.

"It is a problem but it's not going to bother me because I have been campaigning on this for 21 years, so I'm sure I can wait until things are up and running," she said.

She said what Wynne did to desecrate and conceal her daughter was "beyond words".

"There has to be a combined sentence for our judges who come across these types of killers," she added.

"For those who go beyond murder, there has to be another sentence which I am crying and campaigning for."

The meeting was scheduled following a question from Esther McVey, the Conservative MP for Tatton.

Following Davies-Jones's resignation, she said: "It is hugely disappointing to discover Alex Davies-Jones has resigned."

She said she had already contacted the department to ask who would be covering the brief.

"This is a serious issue of national importance and, of course, a very personal issue to Jean Taylor, whose daughter was savagely and brutally killed," she said.

Wynne's original life sentence was later reduced on appeal to 18 years, and he has now been freed.

On the terms of his conditions, he is not allowed into Merseyside, yet Taylor said that was "not good enough".

"I've failed. He's out there," she said.

Since her daughter's murder, Taylor set up the charity Families Fighting For Justice, which advocates for tougher murder laws and acts as a support group for affected families.

She said a law in Chantel's name would mean "so much" to her and the whole family and despite the delay, believed the end of her campaign was drawing near.

"I would most definitely say that the end is in sight and I have never felt so hopeful and positive now than I have ever been," she said.

"It's certainly too late for my family but its certainly not too late for other families that come after us."

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