Victim's partner welcomes tighter crossbow rules

A woman campaigning for tighter controls on crossbows after the death of her partner says new laws on ownership have "been a long time coming".

Laura Sugden's partner, Shane Gilmer, was murdered when a neighbour broke into their East Yorkshire home in 2018 and shot them both with a crossbow.

Under new government plans, selling crossbows and hunting arrows will be banned while existing crossbow owners will need a licence and pass suitability checks in order to keep them.

Currently, there is no registration system for owning a crossbow and no requirement for a licence.

It is also an offence for anyone under 18 to purchase or possess a crossbow and for anyone to sell a crossbow to someone aged under 18.

Crossbows may also be considered offensive weapons and are prohibited from being carried in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

The 35-year-old campaigner, who was pregnant at the time of the attack on her and Gilmer, said she was "over the moon" with the planned new measures but said she hoped it "would have happened quicker".

The move comes after BBC racing commentator John Hunt's wife and two daughters were murdered in a crossbow and knife attack at their family home in July 2024.

Nine months later, two women were injured during an attack involving a crossbow and a firearm in Headingley, Leeds, on 26 April 2025.

Two years previously, would-be assassin Jaswant Singh Chail was jailed after he was encouraged by an AI chatbot to break into Windsor Castle on Christmas Day 2021 with a loaded crossbow to kill the late Queen.

"The more incidents that were happening, I thought that would have put more pressure on, so things would have happened sooner," Sugden said.

"Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case. I didn't anticipate it to take as long as it has."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Our priority is keeping people safe. That is why we are introducing stronger controls for crossbows, including a licensing scheme for existing owners and a ban on sales, so we can prevent serious harm before it happens.

"We will consult on the detailed arrangements, but we expect current owners will be able to keep their crossbow if they apply for a licence and meet the necessary safety checks.

"These measures are about protecting lives and ensuring our communities are safer."

Sugden launched her campaign for a licensing system with police checks in April 2021, when an inquest jury in Hull concluded her partner was unlawfully killed by 55-year-old Anthony Lawrence in their home in Southburn, near Driffield, on 12 January 2018.

At the time of the attack, she confronted the next-door neighbour, who had broken in via the loft and laid in wait for the pair.

Sugden escaped to get help and Lawrence was later found dead in a motor home in the North York Moors.

Sugden underwent surgery in 2025 to remove some of the bolt from her skull and while she has recovered physically, she admitted she would never be able to recover from it mentally.

"It's always going to be with me. It's not something that I'll ever forget. I can't, it's part of my life. It's been my life for the last eight years," she said.

"I think this campaign has definitely helped me have a focus and it's given me something that's a bit more positive.

"I'm happy with the outcome."

She said while her partner was the main motivation behind the campaign, a big driver was their seven-year-old daughter, who had grown up not knowing her father.

"Although she's never met Shane, she does ask a lot about him. And he is very much alive, there's not a day goes by that he's not mentioned.

"He'll always be her dad and I think that sadness is, unfortunately, something that she's always going to feel."

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