A family of a murdered Moy woman, whose body has never been recovered, hope a new law in her name will someday allow her killer to reveal the location of her remains.
The proposed Charlotte’s Law is named after 34-year-old Charlotte Murray who was killed by her partner, Johnny Miller, in 2012.
Miller, a chef from Redford Park in Dungannon was found guilty of her murder by a jury at Dungannon Crown Court in 2019.
The Way Forward on Charlotte’s Law, and responses to a public consultation, have today been published by Justice Minister Naomi Long.
The focus of the consultation focused on key issues such as: How should failure to disclose information about the location of the victim’s body be treated at the point of sentence?; and Should measures to allow a reduction in the prisoner’s life sentence tariff be introduced for cases where a significant disclosure is made post sentence?
Minister Long 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.
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.”
The consultation responses and Way Forward are available on the DoJ website.
