Helen Newlove, Baroness Newlove

The Right Honourable The Baroness Newlove
Baroness Newlove seen during a visit to Hampshire in November 2010.
Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 December 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Louise Casey
Personal details
Born	(1961-12-28) 28 December 1961 (age 55)
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Garry Newlove (1959–2007, his death), Paul Shacklady (2012-)
Children	3 daughters
Known for	Community campaigner

Helen Margaret Newlove, Baroness Newlove (born 28 December 1961) is a Warrington-based community reform campaigner who was appointed as the Victims' Commissioner by the UK government in 2012. Helen Newlove came to prominence after her husband, Garry Newlove was murdered by three youths in 2007. After his death she set up a number of foundations that aimed to tackle the UK drinking culture as well as providing support to young people. Newlove was given a peerage in the 2010 Dissolution Honours list and sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative.

Newlove’s 47-year-old husband Garry Newlove was murdered in August 2007 in Warrington, Cheshire, after confronting a gang of drunken youths who were vandalising her car - the culmination of a long-running campaign of youth gang crime in the Padgate area of the town. Five months later, three local teenagers were found guilty of murdering Garry Newlove, who died in hospital 36 hours after being repeatedly kicked and punched outside his house. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with recommended minimum terms of between 12 and 17 years. Two other suspects, also teenagers, were tried for the murder but found not guilty. Witnesses estimated that around 10 people were involved in the attack on Garry Newlove, and most or all of them had been involved in earlier incidents of vandalism. One of the three teenagers found guilty of the murder had been released on bail hours earlier after appearing in court charged with assaulting another man in the local area.

Since Garry’s death, his widow has campaigned against the UK’s binge-drink culture and calling for better training for landlords and bar staff, as well as shop workers involved in the sale of alcohol. She has more prominently campaigned to clamp down on the sort of criminal activities which contributed to the death of her husband, campaigned for stiffer sentences for serious offences, and campaigned for improved support for victims of crime - highlighting the lack of support that she and her family received after the murder, and highlighting the lack of support given to many other victims of crime (ranging from the families of murder victims to families who have been bereaved by road accidents).