Holly’s Law has been all over my news feed recently. The campaign was founded by Annette Bramley, and was sparked by the tragic murder of 26-year-old Holly Bramley in Lincolnshire. Holly tragically lost her life at the hands of her former partner, a man with a known history of violence including documented abuse of former partners and repeated acts of cruelty towards animals. It has long been discussed that ther eis a direct link between abuse towards animals and abuse towards people, with many incdients showing that animal abuse is a warning sign that the person will then go on to abuse people. A similar campaign, known as Ruby’s Law, is campaigning for the UK legal courts to recogise animal abuse as a form of domestic abuse, with many perpetrators of abuse using the threat of harm to a beloved companion animal as a means of controlling their victim. Both campaigns are hoping to bring light the ways in which abuse can happen, and how involved animals can be in both the carrying out of abuse, and the precurser for abuse later on.
The Holly’s Law bill and petition is proposing that the governemnt create a public register of all offenders convicted of animal abuse and introduce an automatic, lifetime ban on animal ownership for anyone convicted of animal neglect or abuse. It is further proposed that this register should be searchable by vets, breeders, charities, and the public to prevent repeat offending and to also ensure that animals are protected. Not only would this help to protect animals from becoming victims of known previous offenders, but it would also protect people entering new relationships to see whether their new partner has a history of violence. It is worth noting that Clare’s Law in the UK which is a police policy giving people the right to know if their current or ex-partner has any previous history of violence or abuse, howerver this disclosure is only related to previous partners, and does not include any other convictions, such as violence against an animal. It is therefore hoped that Holly’s Law would help to provide this extra layer of information and thus an extra level of protection.
As someone who works in a domestic abuse setting, I believe this law is very long overdue. The ways in which perpetrators of abuse will often use animals as a means to control their victims is shocking, and is unfrotuantely only now being looked into fully by the police, the legal profession, and academics. I personally am of the opinion that such a register is needed to provide full transparency on a person’s past behaviour, and can allow people to make more informed decisions about who they choose to let into their lives. I also think the register would be helpful to protect animals from being at risk of coming into contact with previous offenders, as vets, charities, and breeders would be able to see a person’s history before they allow an animal to return to their care. This again can only be a good thing, as it further promotes animal welfare and animal safety.
The various petitions can also be found here should you wish to learn more or wish to sign your support to the petition:
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