Some battles don’t end with a verdict. For the family of Maya Chappell, the two-year-old from Derbyshire who was murdered in 2021, the fight for justice has always meant something bigger than a single courtroom.
Maya was killed by her mother’s partner, Jordan Monaghan, who was already a convicted child murderer when he took her life. He had previously been found guilty of killing his own two children, Ruby and Logan, in Lancashire. Despite those convictions, he was living freely and had access to Maya. Her family have never been able to make sense of how that was allowed to happen.
Now they’re back, pushing for what they’ve called Maya’s Law, a proposed change that would require authorities to automatically flag known child killers to social services and family courts when they enter new relationships where children are present. It sounds obvious. Somehow, it isn’t already the law.
Maya’s grandmother, speaking to campaigners earlier this year, put it plainly: the system had every piece of information it needed to protect that little girl, and it still failed her. That’s the part that’s hardest to sit with.
The campaign has gained renewed momentum, with the family working alongside child protection charities and a handful of MPs who’ve agreed to raise the issue formally in Parliament. They’re pushing for a statutory duty, not guidance, not a suggestion, but a legal requirement that closes the gap Monaghan slipped through.
Child protection law in England and Wales currently relies heavily on information-sharing between agencies, which in practice can mean crucial details about an individual’s history simply don’t reach the people who need them most. The system is fragmented, and fragmented systems have consequences.
Campaigners point out that this isn’t about punishing people who’ve served their sentences. It’s about the children who come after. A two-year-old can’t protect herself. She relies entirely on adults and institutions doing their jobs properly.
Whether Parliament will act, and how quickly, remains the question. Maya’s family have already waited long enough.
