23/12/2020
Twelve years ago today, a little girl called Francesca Bimpson died in an intensive care unit after losing a three week struggle against catastrophic burn injuries. She had been trapped in a house fire caused by arson and tragically, unlike the rest of her family, she hadn’t managed to escape in time.
The arsonist was jailed. And the rest of the family lived on without their home & possessions - and without their beloved Francesca. They raised awareness about the need to support other victims and even opened a victim support centre in memory of their little girl.
But her father, Kieron Bimpson, kept blaming himself. And the end result of his devastating grief was that, this summer, one of his surviving children discovered him taking his own life in a particularly brutal manner. More death. More trauma and grief for those left behind. But all reaching back to the same index crime.
We often hear the idiom ‘the long arm of the law’. Thanks to modern-day forensics, the criminal justice system has increasing power to grab offenders from incredible distances - including backwards through time to catch historical offenders.
But we hear far less about the long arm of the crime. Stretching in the opposite direction to the limb of the law, the criminal appendage reaches forwards through time, holding tightly onto survivors & loved ones. Simply catching a criminal - sometimes thanks to the aforementioned long legal arm - and imprisoning him doesn’t stop the effects of his crime rippling on through time and space, blighting and even ending the lives of those who are left behind after the court case has concluded and the press photographers have packed up their camera bags.
A wrong action can be the start of a chain reaction of devastation within the life of an individual, a family, a community or even a whole society. It’s not enough to hunt down and lock up the person who knocked over the first domino. The surrounding dominos need intensive and ongoing support too. Psychological support. Social support. Medical support. Financial support. Crime has consequences - many, very long term consequences.