The son of an artist who was murdered in a random attack as she walked her dog has said “nothing has actually been done” to tackle violence against women.
Claire Knights, 54, from Upstreet near Canterbury, was walking back from a beach near Minnis Bay in Kent when she was ambushed, sexually assaulted, and beaten to death by a stranger on August 23 2023.
Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss, 21, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25-and-a-half years in February – but on Friday, judges sitting at the Court of Appeal increased his minimum term to 31 years, having found his original sentence “unduly lenient”.
The court heard Van-Pooss had been dismissed from his job the day before Ms Knights’ murder for upskirting a woman at the pub where he worked, and is believed to have camped out overnight on the beach at Minnis Bay waiting for a lone woman to attack, The Times further reported.
Ms Knights’ son, Elliott Knights-Sloane, now 26, found his mother’s body hidden in a dyke two days after she was reported missing.
He told The Times: “No son should have to find their mum in such a situation.
“I felt crushed that her life was taken away in such horrific circumstances.
“She was an incredible mum, a role model for me. She was just coming back from the beach.”
Mr Knights-Sloane further told The Times he “really struggled” with the lack of public outcry surrounding his mother’s murder, adding: “Why aren’t people more incensed that someone can be walking their dog and that this can happen to them?”
Reflecting on how the issue of violence against women and girls appears to have dropped down the agenda, he said: “Nothing has actually been done to change anything.
“There’s nothing that makes any women safer, or solves anything, other than telling them, ‘You shouldn’t be out on your own. Don’t walk the dog. Look at what you’re wearing.’”
Also speaking to The Times, criminologist David Wilson warned that “overkill” – when an assailant uses disproportionate force to control and overpower a victim, potentially resulting in death – is on the rise.
“Now, it’s relatively common,” he said. “What has changed is the mainstreaming of misogyny.
“A lot of young men are influenced by incel culture, the toxic manosphere, the sense of entitlement that women should be available to them, that they should take what is naturally theirs — to overpower and have sex with them.”
