Baroness Newlove

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2018

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

Baroness Newlove is the Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales. She became a campaigner after her husband, Garry Newlove, was murdered by several youths in 2007. Born in Salford in 1961 she grew up in a working class family. Having left school at sixteen she became a copy typist at a magistrate's court and later a committal court assistant. She met Garry when she was 20 and they married and had two daughters. In 1992, when he was just 32, Garry was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He survived and the couple went on to have a third daughter. The family lived in an area of Warrington which was experiencing an increase in anti-social behaviour. In August 2007, Garry went outside to investigate a disturbance and was viciously attacked by some youths in front of his three daughters. Three days later, the decision was taken to switch off his life support. Three youths were subsequently found guilty of Garry's murder and in the wake of the family's experience, Helen set up an initiative called Newlove Warrington to provide support to the young people in the area. She was given a peerage in 2010 and sits on the Conservative benches. She took up various roles in support of victims in the House of Lords, culminating in her appointment as Victims' Commissioner, a post she took up in 2013. She is currently in her second term and will be serving in the post until 2019. Helen remarried in 2012. Presenter: Kirsty Young Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:03.0	Hello, I'm Kristi Young.
0:05.0	Welcome to Desert Island Discs, where every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, the book and the luxury item
0:12.0	that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away on a desert island.
0:16.0	For rights reasons, the music on these podcast versions is shorter than in the original broadcast.
0:22.0	You can find over 2,000 more editions to listen to and download on the Desert Island Discs website.
0:31.0	Music
0:48.0	My castaway today is Baroness Newlove.
0:51.0	She's the victims commissioner for England and Wales. Her role?
0:55.0	Well, to make sure that the criminal justice system, which so often in the past, has seemed weighted in favour of the accused,
1:02.0	no longer ignores the reality.
1:05.0	That, at the heart of every appalling crime, are the survivors whose innocent ordinary lives are left devastated and destroyed.
1:13.0	A passionate advocate, she speaks from personal experience.
1:17.0	In 2007, Gary Newlove, her husband and a door father of their three daughters, was brutally murdered by a gang of drunken, rowdy youngsters, just yards from the family's front door.
1:29.0	At the end of the trial, my guests heartfelt statements struck a chord across the nation and sparked an outpouring of support, propelling her into the public arena.
1:40.0	She says, whatever I'll go on to do, I'm still going through it. We've still lost Gary and we're still going through the criminal justice system.
1:49.0	And if there is anything I can do to make it better for the next person, I will. So welcome, Baroness Newlove.
1:56.0	Thank you.
1:57.0	You're now in what your second term as victims commissioner appointed in 2012.
2:03.0	What changes have happened? What concrete things are different since you began campaigning and you began in your role?
2:10.0	I think once I began my role, it was getting that voice for victims heard.
2:15.0	We heard the line during the centre of the criminal justice system. They are not.
	...

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