Parents who turned the anguish of losing their daughters into campaigns for justice take pride of place in today’s New Year’s Honours.
Diana Parkes said it was ‘bittersweet’ to be made a CBE for her tireless work since daughter Joanna Simpson was killed by an abusive ex-partner.
She is joined on the honours list by Ian Russell who said his 14-year-old daughter Molly would be ‘very proud’ of her legacy. He was handed an MBE for his campaign for online safety in the wake of her suicide.
The list is dominated by showbusiness names, with legendary singer Shirley Bassey, bonkbuster author Jilly Cooper and Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis among them.
But some other awards may raise eyebrows, including knighthoods for a convicted fraudster and for an outspoken Covid scientist who pushed for tougher lockdowns. The theme of the honours was to mark ‘selfless service to others’ focusing on generosity to those in need.
Inspirational: Molly Russell (left) and Joanna Simpson (right), whose parents set up groundbreaking campaigns in their memory
Carrie Johnson (left) and Joanna Simpson’s mother Diana Parkes in Westminster, London, for the launch of a campaign to prevent release of Robert Brown on March 1, 2023
Ian Russell, who has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to child safety online in the New Year Honours list, at a press briefing at Admiralty House in London
Rishi Sunak said: ‘The New Year’s Honours List recognises the exceptional achievements of people across the country and those who have shown the highest commitment to selflessness and compassion.
‘To all honourees, you are the pride of this country and an inspiration to us all.’
Another mother who lost her daughter in the most horrific of circumstances, Gillian Millane, is made an OBE for services to charitable fundraising and tackling violence against women following campaigns in the name of 21-year-old Grace, who was murdered backpacking in New Zealand.
The university graduate was strangled to death in a hotel in Auckland after meeting her killer Jesse Shane Kempson on Tinder in December 2018.
Ms Millane set up the Love Grace appeal in her memory which aims to ’empower victims of domestic abuse’. Hannah Louise O’Callaghan, Grace’s cousin, was handed an OBE for co-founding the organisation.
Diana Parkes, 59, receives a CBE for services to vulnerable children suffering from domestic abuse and domestic homicide. She co-founded the Joanna Simpson Foundation after the 46-year-old was killed by former British Airways captain Robert Brown just a week before their divorce was due to be finalised in 2010.
Ms Parkes said: ‘I feel incredibly privileged to be receiving a CBE. This news has come as a huge surprise and I am obviously highly delighted. Whilst this honour is an occasion to celebrate, it is bittersweet as this would not have been possible had my daughter, Jo, not been brutally killed by her estranged husband.
‘With this honour I vow to continue to raise awareness about the impact of domestic violence and homicide on children as well as violence against women.’
Ms Simpson’s best friend and co-founder, Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, was also handed a CBE for services to people affected by domestic abuse and homicide. She acknowledged that the honour would not be happening ‘were it not for my beautiful friend Joanna Simpson, who lost her life so brutally at the hands of her estranged husband’.
Tackling the tech giants
Speaking out: Ian Russell
Molly Russell was found dead in her bedroom in November 2017.
While she appeared to be a happy 14-year-old child, it later emerged she had viewed masses of content on social media that was related to suicide, depression and anxiety.
Her father Ian, 60, set up the Molly Rose Foundation in her name, which published a study on social media content to mark what would have been her 21st birthday this year. It found that the type of content that drove his daughter to kill herself at home in Harrow, north-west London, is still widely available on TikTok, Meta platforms and Pinterest.
Mr Russell, who helped with the Government’s new Online Safety Bill which came into force this year, has called on regulators to ‘have courage’ and ‘step further and faster forward’.
Of the social media giants, he said: ‘It’s time for their fine words to stop so that we can judge them not by their words, but by their actions.’
Spurred by tragic loss
Campaigner: Diana Parkes
Joanna Simpson, 46, was bludgeoned to death with a clawhammer by her estranged partner Robert Brown in October 2010.
The former British Airways pilot killed the millionaire at her home in Ascot, Berkshire, within earshot of their two children, then nine and ten. Joanna’s mother, Diana Parkes, set up a fund in her name to support children affected by domestic abuse and homicide.
Brown, now 59, buried Joanna’s body in a pre-dug grave in Windsor Great Park before confessing to police the following day. He was cleared of murder and convicted of manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility.
It meant the killer was due for release last month after serving just half of his 26-year jail sentence.
But following a campaign backed by the Mail, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk stepped in to block the automatic release and referred the case to the Parole Board.
Ian Russell, 60, was made an MBE for services to child safety online after he set up the Molly Rose Foundation suicide prevention charity in his daughter’s memory.
A coroner ruled she died from ‘an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content’ in November 2017.
Mr Russell said his daughter would be ‘tremendously proud of being able to help people who may be struggling with their mental health’.
But he hit out at ‘powerful’ tech firms with ‘huge resources’ who ‘could do more’ as his charity’s research found the material that drove his daughter to suicide is still prevalent on social media sites.
He called on Ofcom to show its teeth using powers under the Online Safety Act – saying ‘the baton has been very firmly handed to them’.
Elizabeth Line station assistant Rizwan Javed, 33, is made an MBE for services to the vulnerable for saving 29 people from suicide since 2015 on London’s transport network.
Louis Johnson, just 17, receives a British Empire Medal after raising more than £80,000 in a series of campaigns for 19 charities since the age of two. This includes £20,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital where he has had treatment for a string of crippling illnesses.
And Camilla Bowry, 43, receives an OBE for setting up Sal’s Shoes, named after her son, which has donated over five million second-hand shoes from children to those in need in 62 countries.