Holly’s Law campaign moves forward after shock Lincolnshire abuse figures

A Lincolnshire mum campaigning for a change in the law says she’s encouraged by growing support for “Holly’s Law” - after new figures revealed thousands of domestic abuse incidents in the county also involved animal abuse.

Annette Bramley from Holbeach launched the campaign after her daughter, Holly Bramley, was murdered by her husband Nicholas Metson in 2023.

Holly’s killer had a history of animal abuse, something Annette believes should have been recognised as a warning sign.

Now, new figures from Lincolnshire Police show victims of domestic abuse mentioned animal abuse in more than 3,000 incidents over the last three years.

Annette is calling for the introduction of Holly’s Law — a proposed system which would allow people to check whether a partner has a history of animal cruelty, similar to Clare’s Law for domestic abuse disclosures.

Speaking to us, she said the latest figures were “quite horrendous”.

“When you think about three thousand cases involving animal cruelty and domestic abuse, it’s quite frightening actually,” she said.

Annette believes awareness around the link between animal abuse and violent behaviour is improving, but says there is still more work to do.

“The red flags are enormous between animal cruelty and domestic abuse and homicide,” she said.

“It is not something everybody thinks about, although it has been looked at for a while. Hopefully we can get the information out and there can be specialist training done to show people there is this definite link.”

The campaign has already gained national attention, with South Holland and The Deepings MP Sir John Hayes backing the proposals and previously writing to the Prime Minister in support of the law.

Annette says the campaign is continuing to gather momentum — and next week she’ll meet politicians, representatives from the RSPCA, Defra and organisations involved in tackling violence against women and girls to discuss the next steps.

“I am amazed at how quickly it’s reached where it has so far,” she said.

“It was just a pipe dream a year ago.”

Annette says she hopes Holly’s Law could eventually become part of wider legislation around domestic abuse or animal cruelty.

An online petition supporting Holly’s Law has already gathered over sixty thousand signatures.