Campaign group Killed Women has launched a hard-hitting ‘blue plaque’ campaign to call on the government to enact more stringent reforms of domestic homicide sentencing laws.

Created pro-bono by brand agency Earnies, “Black and blue plaques” brings home the shocking human cost of women killed by domestic abusers in the UK.

The creative sees the traditional ‘blue plaque’ scheme subverted to spotlight homes in which women were killed as part of a wider campaign calling on the government to deliver tougher sentences.

Murders committed inside the home often receive more lenient sentences than those carried out in public spaces, which can carry up to a decade more prison time. Each plaque reads “Murder is murder, change the law”.

“Sadly, women being murdered by men in the home is not going to end. Even though many murders are preventable – as the killers usually have a prior history of abuse – the final indignity is delivered in sentencing when the murderers receive an average of ten years less than for murders outside. This must stop. The minimum term must represent the crime and shouldn’t be determined by the location,” Killed Women co-founder, Julie Devey said.

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“We want the symbolism of these plaques to raise this issue in the House of Commons. The government showed a refreshing approach to the riots this summer and we want this issue to be granted the same attention, in honouring the pledges made by the previous government. While this won’t bring our loved one’s home, at the very least, families of future victims will be consoled by the knowledge that justice has been served.”

The group’s work will be primarily centred around a harrowing two-minute film that features individual cases and testimony from family members of women killed by domestic abusers.

The need for urgent reform becomes even more stark in the light of current statistics that indicate that one woman is killed every three days by a man in the UK, and usually by one they know – with many of these crimes featuring extreme violence.

Earnies creative director, Lucy Baker added: “The vast majority of domestic homicide victims are women. As a female creative director, led by a female founder (Nikki Collins) at Earnies, these issues hold personal weight.

“I am in permanent awe of the families in their bravery to tell their stories. And I thank them for putting their trust in Earnies to do so.”