Mum 'one step closer to fulfilling promise' to sons after ex-husband lured them to their deaths in blazing loft

Mum 'one step closer to fulfilling promise' to sons after ex-husband lured them to their deaths in blazing loft EXCLUSIVE: Claire Throssell said she was closer to keeping a promise to her boys she made as their lives ebbed as new legislation was due to return to the House of Commons A mum whose two boys died after their abusive father lured them into the loft with a train set and torched the family home has said she is “one step closer” to fulfilling a promise she made as their lives ebbed away. Claire Throssell has staged a 12-year fight to change the law after her children Jack, 12, and Paul, nine, died when their evil father, Darren Sykes, 44, set more than 14 petrol fires around their home. Sykes also died after promising the boys a £600 model railway and some fun-sized chocolate bars before barricading them in the loft as the fire engulfed the property. Before Jack and Paul died, Claire, 53, promised them that no other child would suffer life them - before campaigning repeal the presumption of parental involvement legislation. Since 1989, judges have had by law to initially assume it is best for a child to see both parents. Safeguards allowed restrictions - but research showed this can still leave kids at risk of harm. Under Labour's Courts and Tribunals Bill, judges would instead act solely in the child's best interests. Now, after years of campaigning, new legislation repealing the law will this week [TUES] reach report stage and return to the House of Commons, before it is sent to the House of Lords. Claire said: "In the hospital I promised them that no normal child would die like they did. No other child would be betrayed by a parent, somebody who should've loved and protected them with their own lives. This is more than 10 years of fighting. I made my sons a promise and I've still not been able to keep it, that stings. But this is one step closer to fulfilling that promise." In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Claire told how she endured more than a decade of abuse at the hands of her evil partner before finally leaving him in 2014. Despite their separation, spiteful Sykes continued to exert control over her and mete out his toxic violence. Jack and Paul were so scared of Sykes they would douse themselves in her perfume so they had a "piece of her with them" for protection when they visited their father. And just six months after separating from Claire, Sykes concocted a plan to kill them. He convinced them to go to his house after sending a text saying: "I'm making some railway track - all I need are two engine drivers." Sykes sent six text messages to friends and family minutes before the fire saying he had "found peace". Earlier he had posted several letters, including one to bank HSBC, which said: "I won't be paying the mortgage any more because I won't be alive." He then barricaded the boys inside his home in Penistone, South Yorkshire, and used a chair to block the kitchen door to stop them escaping. He also tied blue string around the front and back gates. A patio door had been left partly open downstairs to fan the flames. Sykes died in the loft from inhaling toxic gases and Paul's body was found near the edge of the loft. Jack made a "valiant" effort to escape the "catastrophic" fire on October 22 2014 but suffered 50 per cent burns to his head, chest and upper limbs. He was found by fire fighters still conscious at the foot of the loft ladder. Jack was taken to hospital where he told a police officer: "It was my dad that started the fire." He then later told a consultant it was deliberate. Five days later he died of his burns. Claire said: "I took the boys to school that morning and I said to them, 'I love you.' They always replied, 'To infinity and beyond'. We did that every morning. Toy Story was their favourite film. Later that day I got to the hospital and they were doing CPR on Paul. A doctor came to me and said, 'We're gonna let him go now', and I said, 'Go where?' Then I realised what he meant and I just let out this inhuman cry." In the aftermath of their separation, Claire had told the Family Court of the abuse Sykes directed at his children. But her concerns were ignored and he was given unsupervised access. Sykes was not allowed to have the boys overnight or at mealtimes, but was granted five hours unsupervised access a week Claire said: "My sons told everyone who would listen that they were frightened of their dad and didn't want to be alone with him, and still, because of this 'presumption' in law, his wants were prioritised above theirs. The "presumption of access", designed so that one parent is not able to exclude an ex-partner from their child's life, is supposed to be disregarded when children are at risk of harm. But campaigners have long protested that the Family Courts' "pro-contact culture" means this doesn't always happen. Claire said: "It's a national disgrace that over the past 30 years, 68 children – 19 of them between 2015 and 2024 – have been killed by a parent who was also a perpetrator of domestic abuse in circumstances relating to child contact. We have to ask why?" Claire's tireless efforts resulted in her being awarded an MBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list. But she is still haunted by the death of her sons, and stricken with grief over their absence. She said: "Life now is intIntolerable, I come home to an empty Intolerable, I come home to silence. "I don't sit at tables doing homework with them. I don't walk on the beach with them with their hands in mine. It's a wound that never never." “Every child deserves to be safe – now we’re changing the law to protect them” - Alex Davies-Jones, the Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls There are some stories that stay with you long after you first hear them. Claire Throssell’s is one of them. Almost twelve years ago, Claire lost her two boys, Jack, 12, and Paul, nine, after they were murdered by their abusive father. Claire had warned that he was a danger to them. She had desperately tried to protect her sons. But her ex-partner was still allowed to see them. No child should ever be put in harm’s way like this. And no mother should ever have to experience what Claire went through. From the most unimaginable grief, Claire found the strength to spend more than a decade fighting for other children to be protected. She has taken Jack and Paul’s names into Parliament, into government and into the national conversation. She has made sure they will never be forgotten. We are determined to honour her extraordinary campaign by repealing the presumption of parental involvement through the Courts and Tribunals Bill which returns to Parliament on Tuesday. At the heart of this change is a simple principle: a child’s safety must always come first. The current law asks family courts, in certain cases, to start from the presumption that both parents should be involved in a child’s life, as long as it’s safe. Of course, for the vast majority of families, having two loving and supportive parents involved in a child’s life is a good thing. And repealing the presumption won’t prevent courts from supporting those relationships where they are safe and in a child’s best interests. But the court shouldn’t begin with an assumption that involvement of a parent is always right. In the past, we’ve seen cases where contact with both parents is prioritised even when there are concerns about abuse or harm. That must change. Removing the presumption of parental involvement will mean courts approach every case based on what is best for that individual child. Where a parent poses a risk, courts will continue to be able to restrict their involvement – whether that means supervised contact, written communication only or, where necessary, no involvement at all. Being a parent does not give anybody the right to put a child at risk. Children have a right to be safe. Claire Throssell has spoken powerfully about what this change means to her. She has said it doesn’t feel like a victory, because no change in the law could ever bring Jack and Paul back. But she hopes that one day she can go to where her boys rest and tell them that children across this country have a safer, brighter future because of what was done in their memory. That is an extraordinarily moving ambition. And this Government is determined to deliver it.