{{Short description|English campaigner and author}} {{For|the Shakatak singer of the same name|Jill Saward (singer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=July 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = Jill Saward | image = 161020-Cannock-Jill-Saward-01.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1965|1|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Liverpool, England<ref>{{cite news|title=Liverpool-born Ealing Vicarage rape victim dies|first=Alexander|last=Button|date=5 January 2017|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|location=Liverpool|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-born-ealing-vicarage-rape-12412032|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|01|05|1965|1|15|df=y}} | death_place = Wolverhampton, England | occupation = Campaigner, author, political candidate | known_for = Rape survivor and campaigner | political_party = Independent | spouse = {{plainlist| *{{marriage|Gary Huxley|1988|1992}} *{{marriage|Gavin Drake|1993}} }} | parents = Michael Saward | relatives = Joe Saward (brother)<br />Henry George Kendall (great grandfather) | website = {{URL|http://www.saward.org}} }}
'''Jill Saward''' (14 January 1965 – 5 January 2017<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38522714|title=Ealing vicarage rape victim Jill Saward dies|publisher=BBC News|date=5 January 2017|access-date=14 January 2017}}</ref>), also known by her married name '''Jill Drake''', was an English campaigner on issues relating to sexual violence.
She was the victim of a violent robbery and rape in 1986 at a vicarage in Ealing, London, a crime for which the perpetrators' relatively lenient sentences led indirectly to changes in the law. Saward was the first rape victim in Britain to waive her right to anonymity.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/world/europe/jill-saward-dies-advocate-for-rape-victims.html?_r=1|title=Rape victim Jill Saward dies from a brain haemorrhage aged 51|work=The New York Times|author=Yeginau, Ceylan|date=6 January 2017|access-date=10 March 2021}}</ref>
==Background== Saward was educated at Lady Margaret School in London.<ref>[https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jill-saward-96914b18] {{dead link|date=January 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-01-09|title=Jill Saward obituary|url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/09/jill-saward-obituary|access-date=2023-01-13|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2017}} Her father, Reverend Michael Saward, became the vicar of St Mary's, Ealing, in 1978.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11384795/Canon-Michael-Saward-clergyman-obituary.html|title=Canon Michael Saward, clergyman – obituary|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 February 2015|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> She married Gavin Drake, and the couple lived in Hednesford, Staffordshire, with their three sons.<ref name=BBC/> Saward was the sister of motor racing journalist Joe Saward.
==Ealing vicarage rape== ===Attack=== On 6 March 1986, a gang of burglars broke into the Saward family's home at lunchtime. Jill's father and her then-boyfriend, David Kerr, were tied up and beaten, both suffering fractured skulls, while she was raped.<ref name="Grice">{{cite news|last=Grice|first=Elizabeth|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1512403/Its-not-whether-you-can-or-cant-forgive-its-whether-you-will-or-wont.html|title='It's not whether you can or can't forgive; it's whether you will or won't'|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=8 March 2006|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref><ref name=Scotsman>{{cite news|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/jill-saward-ealing-vicarage-rape-victim-dies-aged-51-1-4332764|title=Jill Saward, Ealing vicarage rape victim, dies aged 51|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=5 January 2017|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref>
The incident received considerable international media coverage because the house was identified as that of the vicar of Ealing, and the attack was soon labelled by the media as the "Ealing vicarage rape".<ref name="Grice"/><ref name="Bindel">{{cite news|last=Bindel|first=Julie|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/jul/02/women.haltemprice|title=A rape campaigner runs for office|newspaper=The Guardian|date=1 July 2008|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> Saward was effectively identified as the victim of the attack by photographs published in ''The Sun'' four days later.<ref name="Bindel"/>
===Trial and sentences=== At the trial of the perpetrators in 1987, the judge, John Leonard, gave those responsible longer sentences for the burglary than for the rape, stating: "Because I have been told the trauma suffered by the victim was not so great, I shall take a lenient course with you".<ref name="Herald02">{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11954679.John_Leonard|title=John Leonard|newspaper=The Herald|location=Glasgow|date=15 August 2002|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> The leader of the three men, Robert Horscroft, who was not involved in the rape, received 14 years' imprisonment for burglary and assault. Martin McCall, the more violent of the two attackers, was sentenced to five years for rape and five years for aggravated burglary, while Christopher Byrne received three years for rape and five years for burglary and assault.<ref name="Grice"/>
The sentence was criticised by senior British politicians of the time, including then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and opposition leader Neil Kinnock, while others complained that property was being valued more highly than a human body.<ref name="LeonardTeleObit"/><ref name="Sherwood"/><ref name="BBC050117">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38516389|title=Jill Saward: How Ealing vicarage case changed treatment of rape victims|last=Wilson|first=Cherry|publisher=BBC News|date=5 January 2017|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> Saward too complained about the sentences; in 1988, as a result of the case, a new law was passed that allowed appeals against unduly lenient sentences, and also closed a loophole that had previously only granted rape victims anonymity after a suspect was charged with the offence.<ref name="LeonardTeleObit"/><ref name="BBC050117"/>
Criminologist Anthony Bottoms described the case as "a particularly striking example of some fault lines deeply embedded within the institutional structures of the English sentencing processes" of the time.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hearing the Victim: Adversarial Justice, Crime Victims and the State|last=Bottoms|first=Anthony|author-link=Anthony Bottoms|chapter=The 'duty to understand': what consequences for victim participation?|editor-first1=Anthony|editor-last1=Bottoms|editor-first2=Julian|editor-last2=Roberts|editor-link2=Julian Roberts|year=2010|publisher=Routledge|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IztzBwAAQBAJ&q=%22jill+saward%22&pg=PA17|page=23|isbn=9781317436782}}</ref>
On his retirement in 1993, Leonard publicly apologised to Saward,<ref name="Herald02"/> saying his judgment at the trial was a "blemish – I make no bones about it".<ref name="LeonardTeleObit">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1404335/Sir-John-Leonard.html|title=Sir John Leonard|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=14 August 2002|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="Sherwood">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/05/jill-saward-campaigner-ealing-vicarage-rape-dies-at-51|title=Jill Saward, campaigner against sexual violence, dies aged 51|last=Sherwood|first=Harriet|newspaper=The Guardian|date=5 January 2017|access-date=21 May 2017}}</ref>
===Subsequent developments=== Four days after the incident, ''The Sun'' published a photograph of Saward with just her eyes blacked out, as well as an image of her home on its front page, jeopardising her anonymity.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gold|first=Tanya|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/11/what-rise-piers-morgan-tells-us-about-modern-britain|title=What the rise of Piers Morgan tells us about modern Britain|newspaper=New Statesman|date=14 November 2018|access-date=18 November 2018}}</ref> The newspaper's editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, said he printed the images because a rape victim only earned the right to anonymity once a suspect had been charged with the offence. This led to the Press Council amending its guidelines and the closure of that legal loophole.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=13 January 2017|title=Street of shame|magazine=Private Eye|location=London|publisher=Pressdram Ltd}}</ref>
In 1990, with the help of friend Wendy Green, Saward wrote a memoir about her experiences, called ''Rape: My Story'' (1990). At the same time she featured in an ''Everyman'' programme for the BBC with Jenni Murray.<ref>[http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/?view=synopsis]{{dead link|date=October 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In doing so, she became the first British rape victim to waive her right to anonymity.<ref name=BBC/><ref name="Sherwood"/> The documentary was used to educate judges about the trauma suffered by rape victims.<ref>{{cite book|title=Criminology: A Reader|chapter=The Injudiciary|last=Billen|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Billen|editor-first1=Yvonne|editor-last1=Jewkes|editor-first2=Gayle|editor-last2=Letherby|page=317|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXGkv0ZP_M8C&q=%22jill+saward%22&pg=PA315|year=2002|publisher=Sage|isbn=9780761947110}} Originally published in ''The Observer Magazine'', 13 December 1992.</ref>
In 1998, Saward met Horscroft, who was the leader of the gang but who had not been involved in the rape, and reportedly forgave him for his role in the crime. Horscroft had been freed in 1996; he died in 2012.
Saward told Elizabeth Grice in an interview for ''The Daily Telegraph'' in 2006: "Of course, sometimes I thought it might be quite nice to be full of hatred and revenge. But I think it creates a barrier and you're the one who gets damaged in the end. So, although it makes you vulnerable, forgiving is actually a release. I don't think I'd be here today without my Christian faith. That's what got me through".<ref name="Grice"/>
==Campaigning work== In 1988, Saward moved from London to the West Midlands where she initially worked as a teaching assistant at a school in Birmingham.<ref>{{cite news|title=Victim who found cause through evil, Courage of woman who launched campaign after attack|newspaper=Shropshire Star|date=6 January 2017|page=6}}Report by Mark Andrews.</ref> From 1990, until her death, Saward worked in various roles to support victims of rape and sexual violence. In 1994, she set up a support group for rape victims and their families,<ref name=BBC/> and also helped to campaign for a change in the law that allowed people accused of rape to cross-examine their alleged victims.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/09/jill-saward-obituary|title=Jill Saward obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 January 2017}}</ref> In a Channel 5 interview, she argued in 1997 that men in date rape cases should be tried of a lesser offence. "I do [not] suggest the hypothetical victim is culpable," she commented, "only that she did nothing to help herself". Feminists responded negatively.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cooper|first=Glenda|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-way-you-dress-the-way-you-walk-1256684.html|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-way-you-dress-the-way-you-walk-1256684.html|archive-date=8 June 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|title=The way you dress, the way you walk|newspaper=The Independent|date=18 June 1997|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref>
In 2009, she campaigned against a European Court of Justice ruling that the DNA of people cleared of crimes must be deleted from the DNA Database after six years, or 12 years for serious crimes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8037042.stm|title=Time limits on innocent DNA data|publisher=BBC News|date=7 May 2009|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> In 2015, she spoke out against a proposal for rape suspects to remain anonymous until they are charged, describing it as "really insulting to victims and a really disappointing move"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11484843/Ealing-Vicarage-rape-victim-Jill-Saward-says-rape-suspects-must-be-named.html|title=Ealing Vicarage rape victim Jill Saward says rape suspects must be named|last=Prince|first=Rosa|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=20 March 2015|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> and sending a "damaging message" when it was proposed as part of the coalition agreement for the 2010 Parliament.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gibb|first1=Frances|last2=Ford|first2=Richard|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/anonymity-for-rape-suspects-scrapped-th8r0988fqh|title=Anonymity for rape suspects scrapped|newspaper=The Times|date=12 November 2010|access-date=5 January 2017}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
In 2014, Saward co-founded the JURIES (Jurors Understanding Rape Is Essential Standard) campaign with Alison Boydell,<ref name="New York Times 5 January 2017">{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Jill Saward, Campaigner Against Sexual Violence, Dies at 51|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/01/05/world/europe/ap-eu-britain-obit-rape-survivor.html|date=5 January 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|location=New York City|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="JURIES: Who we are">{{cite web|url=https://juriesunderstandingsv.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/who-we-are-and-why-we-are-here/|title=JURIES: Who we are and why we are here|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=8 September 2014|website=juriesunderstandingsv.wordpress.com|publisher=JURIES|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref> seeking to make it mandatory for jurors in sexual abuse and rape trials to be informed about "the myths, stereotypes and realities" concerning those issues.<ref name="BBC News 12 November 2014">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29883813|title=How can more sex offenders be brought to justice?|last=Shaw|first=Danny|date=12 November 2014|publisher=BBC News|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref> Explaining the goal of the campaign, Saward wrote: "We envisage this being done by a DVD that is played in open court that addresses some of the most common myths. Many victims are not getting justice because jurors believe incorrect information that is prejudicial to their thinking, before any evidence is heard. Currently rape myths can be addressed, but only after the evidence is heard. This is too late."<ref name="Saward 11 November 2014">{{cite web|url=http://saward.org/2014/11/11/jurors-understanding-rape-is-essential-standard-juries/|title=Jill Saward: Jurors Understanding Rape is Essential Standard (JURIES)|last=Saward|first=Jill|date=11 November 2014|website=saward.org|publisher=Jill Saward|access-date=8 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109184351/http://saward.org/2014/11/11/jurors-understanding-rape-is-essential-standard-juries/|archive-date=9 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In January 2015, Saward debated the campaign's goals with Helen Reece, lecturer in law at the London School of Economics, on BBC Radio 4's ''Woman's Hour''.<ref name="BBC Woman's Hour 28 January 2015">{{cite episode|title=Should we brief juries involved in sex cases?|series=Woman's Hour|credits=Presenter: Jenni Murray; Interviewed guests: Jill Saward, Helen Reece; Producer: Beverley Purcell|network=BBC|station=BBC Radio 4|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0507lh2|airdate=28 January 2015|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>
In 2016, Saward criticised the Crown Prosecution Service's dealing with rape cases, saying: "I think the issues a lot of people have is the length of time it takes the CPS to get a case to court."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.sky.com/story/care-for-rape-victims-falling-well-short-10153528|title=Care For Rape Victims Falling 'Well Short'|last=Williams|first=Rebecca|publisher=Sky News|date=2 February 2016|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref>
==Politics== Saward stood against David Davis in the 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election. She criticised Davis for "saying nothing at all" about sexual violence issues while serving as Shadow Home Secretary, and stated that the DNA Database should be extended to help detection of sexual assault.<ref name="Politics0608">{{cite web|url=http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2008/06/27/rape-victim-to-challenge-davis|title=Rape victim to challenge Davis|website=Politics.co.uk|date=27 June 2008|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="Sparrow">{{cite news|author-link=Andrew Sparrow|last=Sparrow|first=Andrew|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/jun/26/haltemprice.daviddavis|title=Rape law campaigner to stand against Davis|newspaper=The Guardian|date=26 June 2008|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Saward|first=Jill|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/01/civilliberties.ukcrime|title=Why I am standing against David Davis|newspaper=The Guardian|date=1 July 2008|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> In her view, there was a disparity between the "thousands" of people affected by sexual assault each year, compared to the detention proposals of the Counter-Terrorism Bill "which may not affect anybody at all" and felt that "somebody needs to get the issue of rape on to the agenda".<ref name="Politics0608"/><ref name="Sparrow"/>
On the issue of detaining suspects for up to 42 days, she told Julie Bindel: "If the police say they need more time to work on these cases, then I support them". Asked about the effects on the Asian community: "It will target people who are seen to be a threat to our nation's freedom. At the moment, that might be some Muslim men, 10 years ago it was the IRA – so people with Irish accents were the target – and soon it could be Mugabe's men".<ref name="Bindel"/>
In the by-election Saward received 492 votes (2.1%).<ref name="BBCNews25June2008JS">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7472980.stm|title=Rape campaigner by-election bid|date=25 June 2008|publisher=BBC News|access-date=25 June 2008}}</ref><ref name="Yorkshire Post">{{cite news|url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Campaigners-set-to-fight-Davis.4222338.jp|title=Campaigners set to fight Davis by-election|date=25 June 2008|newspaper=The Yorkshire Post|access-date=25 June 2008}}</ref><ref name="East Anglia Daily Times">{{cite web|url=http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/politics/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=Politics&tBrand=EADOnline&tCategory=zpolitics&itemid=IPED25%20Jun%202008%2015%3A14%3A16%3A493|title=Icke and Saward may contest by-election|date=25 June 2008|work=East Anglia Daily Times|access-date=25 June 2008}}</ref><ref name="Driffield Post and Driffield Times25June2008JS">{{cite news|title=Latest by-election contenders revealed|date=25 June 2008|newspaper=Driffield Times and Post}}</ref>
==Death== Jill Saward died on 5 January 2017, in New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, following a subarachnoid hemorrhage two days earlier.<ref name=Scotsman/><ref name="Sherwood"/>
==Publications== * Saward, Jill, with Green, Wendy (1990) ''Rape: My Story'' Bloomsbury Publishing; {{ISBN|9780747507512}}
==See also== {{Wikiquote|Rape}} *Types of rape *Effects of rape and aftermath *Laws about rape
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://jsarchive.info/ Jill Saward's website (archived)]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saward, Jill}} Category:1965 births Category:2017 deaths Category:20th-century English memoirists Category:20th-century English women writers Category:English women memoirists Category:Deaths from subarachnoid hemorrhage Category:English victims of crime Category:History of mental health in the United Kingdom Category:Independent British political candidates Category:People educated at Lady Margaret School Category:Sexual abuse victim advocates Category:English twins Category:Activists from Liverpool Category:British women's rights activists Category:Writers from Liverpool