Relatives of murder victims to get one-to-one support

The families of murder victims are to be offered one-to-one support seven days a week under the national victims' service to be launched in March, the justice secretary, Jack Straw will announce today. Relatives will be offered help with their practical and emotional needs. The service, funded with £8m of Ministry of Justice money, is being run with Victim Support and other specialist victims' organisations. Straw said that two decades ago victims had been treated appallingly by the justice system. "The system was geared squarely towards offenders. We have worked hard over the last 13 years to change this – successfully cutting crime and cutting reoffending but also focusing the justice system on the needs of victims and of the communities who live with the consequences of crime when it does occur." The launch follows a study by the government's victims' champion, Sara Payne. She said a fresh approach was needed for victims, including trauma counselling. Straw has compared the establishment of a one-to-one help service for victims to the one-to-one management of offenders provided by the probation service. Despite a promise to set up a statutory commissioner for victims and witnesses made by Gordon Brown at the 2008 Labour party conference, the powers have yet to reach the statute book. Payne's appointment was designed to bridge the gap. The launch is being supported by KnifeCrimes.org, a charity providing help to families and friends affected by serious violent crime. "Following the trauma of a murder the lives of families are changed forever," said its founder, Ann Oakes-Odger. "It is imperative that effective support systems are created to help bereaved families through this terrible ordeal."