Last week, Sir John invited Annette Bramley, mother of Holly, to Parliament so to take part in meetings with Jess Phillips MP (Minister for Violence against Women and Girls) and Chris Philp MP (Shadow Home Office Secretary).
These meetings were to discuss the next steps in the campaign for 'Holly's Law' - legislation that would introduce an animal abuse register that is disclosable to necessary members of the public, much as the child sex offenders register operates.
This comes after the tragic murder of Holly by her violent husband, who has an extensive history of extreme animal cruelty. The correlation between animal and domestic abuse is undeniable and so far, there is no legislation that accounts for this. Sir John recognised the importance of this essential safe guard, when raised to him by Annette, and has since campaigned tirelessly to introduce a register.
Since joining the campaign, Sir John has rallied the cross-party support of over 50 MPs and Lords, met Ministers, written to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, and Justice Secretary. Together with the supportive Lord Black of Brentwood, they tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill in the House of Lords to introduce such a register. Though it was not pushed to a vote, it raised significant recognition and garnered support from many Lords.
The meetings with the Minister and Shadow Secretary last week were extremely promising, with Sir John saying: "the meetings really couldn’t have gone any better. These are the people who can really help make it happen. Both expressed commitment to ensuring the link between cruelty to animals and domestic abuse is acted on to prevent future tragedies".