No more children are going to die like you': how Sheffield mother kept her promise to boys killed by father 11 years ago

"When Claire Throssell held her dying son Jack in her arms, she made him a promise: that no more children would die in the circumstances he had at the hands of a violent parent, on a court-ordered unsupervised visit. Jack and Paul, then aged 12 and nine, were killed by their father 11 years ago, when he lured them into the attic with a new train set, barricaded the house shut and used Throssell's possessions to set 14 separate fires."

"That evening, Throssell had returned home from work just after her sons' father, Darren Sykes, had picked them up. I missed them by five minutes, she said. I was late home, and I missed them for that last hug. Literally, 15 minutes later, there was a knock on the door, she said, and, you know, I just knew. I opened the door, and there was a police officer stood outside the door, and the car was flashing in the middle of the road."

"I was rushed to Sheffield children's hospital and ran through the doors. I could see them working on Paul, she said. His little body was bouncing off the bed. Once she arrived, doctors told her that they were going to let him go. As she held her son, she said police came in and said, You can't touch him any more, he's a crime scene.'"

Claire Throssell lost her sons Jack, 12, and Paul, 9, when their father, Darren Sykes, killed them during a court-ordered unsupervised visit 11 years ago. He lured them into the attic with a new train set, barricaded the house and used Throssell's possessions to set 14 separate fires. As Jack died in her arms, Throssell vowed that no more children would die like him. A family court judge had allowed unsupervised access under a presumption favoring contact with both parents despite Throssell's warnings. The government announced plans to repeal that presumption and invited Throssell to meet the prime minister.

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