17-Year-Old British Girl Murdered After Rejecting Confession... Parents Lead Push for Stronger Juvenile Laws

Accidental Crime... Sentenced to 12 Years and 6 Months in Prison
Victims' Parents Campaign... "Apply Adult Murder Charges to Minors Too"

Ellie Gould. Photo by Twitter Capture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] According to the amendment to be released this week in the UK, the sentence for minors convicted of murder will be more than doubled.

On the 7th (local time), according to Sunday and others, under the new law called 'Ellie's Law,' a 17-year-old murderer will be sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison, more than twice the current minimum sentence of 12 years.

This measure is the result of a campaign by Ellie Gould's parents to increase the perpetrator's minimum sentence after Ellie was brutally murdered by Thomas Griffiths (17) in 2019.

Ellie, found bloodied in her home's kitchen, was reportedly stabbed at least 13 times and died from excessive bleeding.

The perpetrator was Griffiths, who confessed his love to Ellie the day before but was rejected. He tried to strangle her because she had rejected him, then grabbed a knife in the kitchen.

Thomas Griffith. Photo by Twitter capture.

After the crime, Griffiths tried to disguise it as a suicide by placing the knife in the girl's hand and calmly returned to his school classroom.

Griffiths, being 17, was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months, only 6 months more than the legal minimum of 12 years for minors.

In response, Ellie's parents, Carol Gould (50) and Matthew Gould (53), campaigned for minors convicted of murder to be treated like adults.

Under current law, the minimum sentence for minors under 18 convicted of murder is 12 years, while for adults it is 15 years.

The new criminal law sets sentences differently according to age and severity. The minimum sentence for ages 10 to 14 is 50% of the adult sentence, for minors aged 15 to 16 it is 66%, and for minors aged 17 and above it is 90% of the adult sentence.

However, Thomas Griffiths will be sentenced to a minimum of 14 years because he did not bring the weapon to the scene intentionally but used a weapon that was present impulsively.