Disappointment has followed a Government decision on a campaign to change the law so that a parent convicted of killing the other has their parental rights suspended.

The Jade’s Law campaign has been run by Jade Ward’s parents Karen Robinson and Paul Ward, Edwin Duggan and Mark Tami MP after the brutal murder of Jade Ward by her estranged husband and father of her sons Russell Marsh, and his subsequent conviction.

As part of the campaign, Mr Tami met with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice and Edward Argar MP, Minister of State for Victims and Sentencing and made it clear that the family weren’t asking that access to parental rights are removed altogether, just that the perpetrator would have to apply through the courts to have them reinstated.

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Currently, the family or guardian of the children involved have to apply to have them suspended or removed.

There was an agreement at the meeting that there was a need for greater support to those families who wanted to challenge parental rights in court and Mr Tami requested further detail on how this would be achieved.

In a recent response from Lord Bellamy, he announced that from May 1 legal aid would be made available for those like Jade’s parents who wish to apply in private proceedings for a Special Guardianship Order (SGO).

He also wrote: “The Family Procedure Rule Committee is now progressing work to explore ways to make the court process less time consuming and procedurally burdensome for families applying for special guardianship orders, or to restrict the exercise of parental responsibility, where a child does not have a parent to care for them on a day-to-day basis due to the only living parent’s imprisonment, for example where one parent is convicted of murdering the other.”

Responding to Lord Bellamy’s letter, Mr Tami MP said: “I’m pleased to hear that legal aid will be available to Jade’s parents to get a Special Guardianship Order, and that there will be support to make the court process less arduous.

“The point is however that those in this situation shouldn’t have to go to court. The convicted murderer should have their parental responsibility suspended, and it should be them that has to go through the courts to get it back."

Edwin Duggan told the Leader he was also very disappointed at the response.

He said: "Once again, the MoJ have skirted around the issue and opted to concentrate on subjects such as SGOs and Grandparent Rights. This was not what the petition was brought to the House to discuss.

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"There is absolutely nothing within the reply that is not already known.  

"Whilst I applaud the MoJ deciding that legal aid will be extended to applications for SGOs, the Ministry still avoids the central issue which the debate in November was to consider."

A Government spokesman said: "This was a horrific crime and our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Jade Ward.

“Judges are required to put the welfare of children first and can effectively remove all rights and powers from a parent who has murdered the other.

"We have also asked the Family Procedure Rule Committee to look into also looking at how the processes for applying to restrict parental responsibility can be made simpler and quicker for families.”