Sarah Rainsford

And ultimately, he killed her.

The man was called Filippo Toretto, and he committed this horrific, horrific murder, a very violent attack.

And then he went on the run.

And I think that's probably, you know, to explain why it captured the, I suppose, the nation so much.

He went on the run.

He disappeared after dumping Julia's body and was found eventually in Germany, in fact, in a lay-by in his car because he'd run out of petrol, run out of money.

So for a whole week, the nation was basically transfixed.

First of all, to find Julia and then to find her killer.

He was prosecuted for murder with aggravating circumstances, including his possessive and controlling behavior.

So in a way, there's quite a lot of discussion about whether this law changes very much.

I spoke, for example, to Giulia's father, Gino, and I sort of said to him, you know, would anything have been different for you had this law existed?

And he was pretty doubtful because, as he pointed out, Filippo is now serving a life sentence in an Italian jail.

But I think he thought it would have a symbolic purpose.

He thought it was a small but important step.

Yes, absolutely.

I think it's about identifying femicide as a distinct crime with distinct characteristics.

And it's partly about, I think, giving it visibility and fuelling a discussion in order to then try to tackle the problem at its root.

Because I think critics and supporters of the law both agree that this is not a crime that you can get rid of through punishment.

But it's about the need to tackle the root causes of femicide

femicide, of gender-based violence in society.