Chantel’s Law: Why It’s Time for Change

A Mother’s Fight for Justice

For over twenty-five years, I have lived with the unbearable pain of losing my daughter, Chantel, who was brutally murdered and dismembered. To this day, no part of her body has ever been found. The man convicted of her murder continues to twist the truth, giving different versions of what happened while we, her family, are left without answers and without peace.

When killers like this refuse to tell the truth, they continue to hold power over families. They control our emotions, our grief, and our ability to move forward. The law as it stands does not go far enough to stop that cruelty.

Helen’s Law Helped — But It Doesn’t Cover Every Case

Many will remember Helen’s Law, which I supported alongside my friend Marie McCourt. That law was an important step forward. It made it harder for convicted killers who refuse to disclose the location of their victim’s body to be granted parole. But it still leaves a gap that allows those who pretend to cooperate, who claim to have revealed where they put the body, yet deliberately mislead investigators, to continue to manipulate the system.

Some killers hide remains in places they know can never be found. Others give false information so that searches lead nowhere. Families like mine are left in a lifetime of suffering, while the perpetrators face the possibility of parole in as little as fifteen to twenty years. That is not justice.

What Chantel’s Law Would Do

Chantel’s Law would go further. It would ensure that when a victim’s body has been desecrated, dismembered, or deliberately concealed, the sentence reflects the true horror of that crime.

• A life sentence with a minimum of 40 years served before parole can even be considered.
• When parole is reviewed, the Parole Board must examine how the victim’s body or body parts were disposed of. Especially if they were placed somewhere designed never to be found.
• If evidence shows that the perpetrator deliberately made recovery impossible, parole would be denied, regardless of any claimed disclosure.

Existing laws, such as “concealment of a body” or “desecration of a corpse”, do not go far enough. We need murder combined with these acts to form a single, aggravated offence. Justice must be seen to be done and sentences must truly fit the crime.

Why It Matters

Families like mine deserve closure. We deserve the truth, the chance to lay our loved ones to rest, and the reassurance that justice values our pain as much as it protects the rights of offenders. At present, the system does not. That must change.

Chantel’s Law will ensure that the most barbaric crimes are treated with the seriousness they deserve. It will give judges the power to hand down sentences that reflect both the brutality of the act and the suffering left behind.

The Campaign

More than 10,000 people have already signed in support of Chantel’s Law, and we have handed these signatures into 10 Downing Street. The campaign continues, and I will not stop until this change is made — not just for Chantel, but for every family left without a body, without truth, and without peace.

For too long, killers have been able to manipulate the law. It is time for the law to stand firmly with the victims and their families.

— Jean Taylor, Founder of Families Fighting for Justice