'I'm running for all women killed by men in 2025'

A woman whose best friend was killed by her ex-husband is running the London Marathon in a cape of butterflies for all the women killed as a result of abuse in 2025.

Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, 59, from Swindon, Wiltshire, has been campaigning with domestic abuse charity Refuge since her best friend Joanna Simpson was murdered in 2010 by Robert Brown who is currently in prison.

She attended Brown's parole appeal meeting on Thursday in order to give a victim impact statement - something she said added a layer of "painful" mental exhaustion just days before the marathon.

She said she had "crawled her way back" since losing her friend by raising awareness of domestic abuse with "empathy".

She said she had seen first-hand the pain her friend's death had caused her family and children.

"In the few years after Jo was killed I couldn't articulate anything and I was so traumatised I couldn't work and I crawled my way back," she said.

"I'm doing all this campaigning and I can do it with confidence but also with empathy."

According to the Femicide census, as many as 110 women are killed every year by men and many of those deaths are in their own homes.

"We should not as a society be tolerating that," she said.

Since Simpson's death, Brown has applied for parole twice.

His current application is under review and a decision is expected in the coming weeks.

Barkworth-Nanton was invited to attend the latest hearing to observe and make personal statements.

"I had to read out my victim personal statement on Thursday and that really painfully hurt and now I'm exhausted both physically and mentally," she said.

Barkworth-Nanton, who is a chair of trustees for Refuge, hopes to raise £100,000 for the charity while wearing her pink cape.

"It's about hope and also represents women who are not killed and reach out for help and are able to escape domestic abuse and become butterflies in their own right," she said.

"It's about the awareness and getting people to talk about domestic abuse.

"This cannot continue and everyone has a role to play."

Gemma Sherrington, CEO of Refuge, said they were "utterly blown away" by her "exceptional and unwavering" dedication to the charity.

"We can't wait to cheer her on every step of the way," she said.

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