A mother is holding a vigil to remember her sons, ten years after their father killed them in a house fire.
Claire Throssell, from Penistone, has campaigned for the charity Women's Aid for the past ten years following the deaths of Jack, 12, and Paul, nine, at the hands of her ex-husband, who also died.
The candlelight vigil will take place on Tuesday at 6pm BST at Barnsley Town Hall.
Ms Throssell said the event will remember not just the boys, but “every victim who has paid the ultimate price for domestic violence”.
On October 22, 2014, Darren Sykes lured his sons into the attic of his home to play with the trains he had bought for them before setting the house on fire.
He joined them in the attic, closed the hatch and imprisoned them.
Paul and Mr. Sykes died in the house. Jack was taken to hospital but died on October 27.
Mrs Throssell said: 'Nothing can prepare you for walking into an empty flat.
“I would do anything to trip over their shoes that they just left at the door, while they are picking up their school bags that they just threw away after a day at school.”
She has campaigned with Women's Aid to prevent dangerous perpetrators of domestic violence from having unsafe contact with their children.
“I knew he was a danger to the boys,” she said. “I've told the court repeatedly, I've told Cafcass repeatedly [the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service] and social services.
“I take each day as it comes and I remain hopeful that we can make this world we don't like a better place for other children.”
She said the vigil was also to keep the boys' memories alive.
“Over the past ten years, I've been developing a way to move on for them, to give them a legacy so that no one ever forgets their names. Because as soon as we stop saying their names, they really die.”
Her campaign led to the passage of a domestic abuse bill in 2021 and she was awarded an MBE.
“It took ten years for Parliament to reveal the names of Jack and Paul, and so many other children have been murdered who are simply an A and a B in any serious assessment of the case. That has to change,” she said.
“All those deaths were avoidable. In all of those cases, one parent was a known perpetrator of domestic violence and yet courts turn children over to these abusers because of parental rights.
“Children and victims become invisible.”
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