People are living behind gates rather than having the criminals behind bars

Sandra Sullivan

Mrs Sullivan says the killer, a woman suffering from schizophrenia, admitted what she had done, pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity and was sent to Broadmoor.

But the court case skipped over the family's feelings, Mrs Sullivan says, which forced her to make her views clear as it came to an end.

She explains: "I stood up and I said 'you have taken a lovely young girl's life and we have had no sleep'.

"But a great big guard jumped on me. It was as if we were the criminals."

'Life is cheap'

Mrs Sullivan's husband Mick died six years later and she has no doubt it was a direct result of their daughter's death.

She believes that under the British legal system "life is cheap" and more must be done to protect people like her.

Almost a decade after her daughter was killed in Kingston, London, Mrs Sullivan works for Victims' Voice, an organisation helping other families who have suffered violent crime.

Are victims being marginalised?

But she thinks much more must be done and that the government has failed to be tough on crime.

"Everyone knows we are not safe. People are living behind gates rather than having the criminals behind bars."

Victims' Voice is calling for a minister for victims to be appointed, a ban on criminals profiting from books about their crimes and for juries to be told of past convictions at the start of a trial.

It also wants to see proper counselling and support put in place for victims.

Mrs Sullivan goes on: "I know of families where someone has been murdered in the house and the rest of the family have to sleep in the car outside because the house is covered in blood."

'Bullying tactics'

Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust tells BBC News Online the "whole crumbling justice system" is weighted in favour of the perpetrators.

He says victims and witnesses are treated "appallingly" in court cases, with judges and magistrates failing to step in when lawyers use bullying tactics.

Criminals, he continues, regard themselves as untouchable and walk in and out of court by "playing the system".

Mr Brennan adds: "I can't exaggerate how serious this problem is, I really wish I could say Sir John Stevens is out of touch and wrong, but he couldn't be more right."

"The ugly alternative to ignoring this problem is anarchy."