The twenty-fifth Twickenham vigil to raise awareness of violence against women and girls took place on Monday (4 September).

The vigils, organised by The Women's Equality Party, have been taking place on the first Monday of every month for the past two years, starting in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, who was murdered by police officer Wayne Couzens, as she was travelling home in Clapham.

In a statement, WEP Richmond said: "'We have held these vigils every month for the past 2 years because we want women's lives to be taken seriously. We need your help to make local politicians take it seriously too, so in turn it can be pushed up the national agenda. 

"In 2021, 144 women were killed by men in the UK. In 2022, it was 108. That is one woman killed every 3 days."

The crowd at the vigil. (Photo Credit: Heather Nicholls).

The vigil took place at the Amelie Delagrange memorial bench on Twickenham Green.

Amelie Delagrange was murdered by Levi Bellfield whilst walking home across Twickenham Green, in 2004.

Bellifield has been convicted of murdering Amelie Delagrange, Milly Dowler and Marsha McDonnell and remains in prison.

At the vigil, Jill, Head of Campaigns for Richmond WEP gave a speech that included a list of all the women killed by men in the past month.

She reads a list like this at each vigil and they can vary drastically in length.

Jill at the vigil. (Photo Credit: Heather Nicholls).

An attendee at the vigil said: "There's a group of women who actually do all this counting for each area so it's possible that we miss a few each month because it's reliant on people like us to put it together.

"The police don't report them, they just say how many murders have taken place.

"This was a short month though so we take it where we can"

Another attendee, Katelyn, added: "The point being many more men than women are murdered each month but they are still by male violence predominantly."

She added: "I would come to support the party but coming today on the two year anniversary and it being the first one I've been able to come to actually feels quite significant."

"I remember just how visceral it felt after the Sarah Everard murder and I don't think I felt like I could go then because I was just too upset and scared."

"Jill is so passionate about us being here every month because these murders happen so frequently and the women who have died over the past month haven't garnered that press attention."

"Every vigil is important not just the ones that 100 people turn up to."

"These numbers aren't going down, there's a lot of noise but not much change and that's another reason for us to be here every month."