Janet Jordon is responsible for her own murder and that of her partner Philip Howard and 6 year old daughter Derin.
At least, that's what Victoria Ward has written in the Telegraph this week: Jed Allen isn't responsible for killing his mother, his half-sister or his mother's partner because he "had a troubled family life and had struggled with his mother's alcoholism". Or, as the title states: " Didcot Triple Murder: Suspect always had family issues and anger problems".
These statements come from an unnamed ex-girlfriend and Jane Ilott, the former mayoress of Kidlington and one-time landlord.
Ilott claims that two of Jordon's children were adopted due to her alcoholism. It's worth pointing out that we only have Ilcott's version of event since child protection services are legally prohibited from sharing information about minors. We do not know when the children were adopted, how old Allen was and why he remained in the house with a mother who needed support when his two siblings were removed - if he did indeed remain in the house. Ilott mentions numerous examples of Jordon struggling with alcohol dependency but doesn't mention once contacting social services as a way of accessing support for Jordon.
Ilcott also helpfully suggests that "it must have impacted on (Allen) when when two of Jane's children were adopted". There is no reference to the impact it would have had on Jordon or the other two children.
This is the real problem with Ward's article: there is no mention of Philip Howard and Derin only gets a brief mention at the end. Ward has effectively excused Allen's criminal act because Jordon deserved to die since she was a 'bad mother'.
Ward has not questioned why Jordon had problems with alcohol dependency. She hasn't bothered to ask if Jordon grew up in an abusive home - and, the links between women's substance use and child abuse are fairly well established.
This is the reality of the war on women and victim blaming culture: the perpetrator's agency and choice are erased in favour of a narrative of woman-blaming. Predictably, there is no mention of Jed Allen's father in this article - and, statistically, fathers are the majority of perpetrators of child neglect and abuse. Yet, there is no pattern of children killing their neglectful or abusive fathers.
Karen Ingala Smith, who runs the Counting Dead Women campaign tracking femicide in England and Wales, makes this double standard clear:
Jed Allen made a choice to kill three people. He is responsible for his actions. Yet it should be understood that his actions took place, not in isolation, but in a context: a society where men and women are unequal, a society that is thick with toxic hyper-masculinity. In this same society, too many are quicker to blame women for men's choices, even where women are victims of that man's violence. Jed Allen is at least the 15th UK man to have killed his mother in the last year. He is the second to have killed his mother and sister this year.
Jed Allen may have had a very difficult childhood but so do many children who do not grow up to kill. We need to be very clear here: this is about male violence. It is very rare for women to kill and the context is very different. Women who kill their children tend to have a history of post-natal depression rather than the history of domestic violence of fathers who kill. Women who kill their partners do so in self-defence. Men who choose to kill their current or former partners and children do so as part of the pattern of coercive control that defines domestic violence and abuse.
Our organisation monitors media coverage of male violence. Whilst this is the most egregious coverage we have seen in a while, it follows the normal pattern: blaming the victim, erasing the perpetrator's agency, and justifying violence without recognising the patterns or contexts of male violence.
Janet Jordon is not responsible for her own murder or that of her daughter and partner. Jed Allen made a choice to kill his mother and sister. He made this choice within a context of endemic male violence against women and girls. These types of murders are not isolated or tragic. They are simply the extension of patriarchal control over women's bodies and lives.
If we want to end familial violence, we need to start tackling our culture of hyper-masculinity and male entitlement which leads men to believe they are justified in killing women and children. Otherwise, we will continue to read stories of families being slaughtered by a male member and the victims held accountable for their own murders.
The war on women exists because we allow these narratives of justifiable male violence to continue. Until men start examining their own privilege and entitlement, women and children will continue to pay the price with their lives.