A sea of luminous hi-vis jackets stride together through central London. Looking like builders on the way to work in a sweltering heatwave, it’s a different job they have today.
The construction workers were marching to demand that men open up and challenge each other to do more to end violence against women and girls.
They walked 10km alongside families whose loved ones have been killed by men, stopping off at construction sites on to the way to Downing Street on Thursday.
Michael Alan Hook, who has worked in construction for most of his life, had tears in his eyes as he warned of the UK’s ‘epidemic of violence against women and girls’.
‘We have an opportunity to show young men, who might be a lost generation, an alternative pathway to have a successful career that they can be in control of’, he told Metro.
‘They don’t have to turn to people like Andrew Tate,’ the 61-year-old, who is co-owner of LMG, a digital buildings service provider which organised the march with the charity Killed Women.
‘We have got men in hard hats and, you know, gnarled old veterans out there, shoulder to shoulder with the killed women’s families. I think that sends a powerful message.’
Malachi Lynch, a 19-year-old builder from Chingford in east London, warned of just how widespread domestic abuse is as he explained some men don’t speak out about violence against women due to fearing they will be seen as ‘uncool and cringey’.
Organisers behind the Hard Hats & Open Minds Walk for Change are demanding that heavily male-dominated industries confront abuse at home and in the workplace – urging construction workers to challenge misogyny at work and look out for warning signs that colleagues are abusing their partners at home.
Leon Westcarr, whose niece was killed by her partner, said: ‘Men are the perpetrators of these violent and heinous crimes. Women are being killed by men, and men have got to be part of that solution. Men have got to challenge men about their behaviours and their attitudes.’
It is key to work with men in the construction industry and other sectors to change cultures and ‘open minds’, the 64-year-old, who is based in Leeds, added.
His 25-year-old niece, Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, was found dead in a car in Hackney in April 2024 after being strangled by her partner, who drove around with her body after killing her.
Her killer, Gogoa Lois Tape, was given a hospital order for manslaughter. While he was at first charged with murder, prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
Kennedi’s family have called for a review of the sentence Tape received – with Mr Westcarr saying he was ‘totally devastated’ about the outcome.
‘I am outraged that after less than two years of him committing the crime, and less than five months after being sentenced, the clinicians can feel like they can apply for escorted leave for him to be out in the community,’ he added.
Daniel Wing, whose mother was killed when he was only a year old, said the event was especially moving for him because many of his male relatives are working-class builders.
His mother, Tina Wing, was killed when she went on an unaccompanied walk around the grounds of Friern Barnet Hospital, a mental health facility in north west London, where she was being held.
She went on a walk on June 1992, and her body was found with multiple stab wounds and strangulation marks four hours later. Her murder case remains unsolved.
Discussing this mother’s death, the 35-year-old, who lives in Enfield, said: ‘There are some really horrific stories. She is not the only woman it happens to.’
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