18th of September. Every Three Days - Maxine Showers

On average every three days a woman is killed by a man.

Every third day, in our #EveryThreeDays campaign, I write about a woman killed by a man. Previously in this campaign, which started on the 2nd of May 2021, we have remembered 48 women, the last being Ann-Marie Cropper, 47, a grandmother who lived in Southport, Lancs.

Today we remember Maxine Showers, 42, who lived in Fairfield, Liverpool, just a few miles south of where Ann-Marie lived.

Maxine was a known sex worker and visited the home of Michael Williams in September 2015. Williams was a drug addict, and fuelled by his addictions, he viciously attacked and killed Maxine. Whilst clearly sex workers are at more risk than most, the facts are that nineteen out of twenty women killed by a man, the murderer is someone she knows. In this case, I could not find any evidence that Maxine knew Williams.

The Liverpool Echo reported this:

Michael Williams, 29, will serve a minimum of 22 years after being convicted of the murder of sex worker Maxine Showers, 42. He had admitted manslaughter - Ms Showers’ body was found in an alleyway behind his home in Hinton Street.

Prosecutors said Williams killed her in a “vicious assault”, but he claimed she had tried to steal from him and left his house of her own accord. However, a jury today found the cocaine and alcohol-fuelled dad-of-one guilty of murder after around six hours of deliberation.

Judge David Aubrey, QC, said, "there was no provocation, and Ms Showers had not tried to steal from Williams. Shortly after arriving at your home, you perpetrated a particularly brutal, savage and sustained attack upon her. This court has no doubt that you repeatedly stamped on her face and head, and you strangled her to death. Having done so, you sought to cover your tracks by seeking to clean and wash away what you had done".

"Shortly after you murdered her, you went out to purchase some beer, leaving your victim dead or dying in your home. You then, at the dead of night just after midnight, having cleaned away the blood from the body in your bath, carried the deceased out into the back alley where she was found the following day.

In my judgement, that demonstrates that you are a cold and ruthless man. In life, you had shown her no respect, albeit the reason for what you did remains unknown. In death, you showed her no respect and gave her no dignity.”

Richard Pratt, QC, defending, said before the killing Williams had been to see his doctor “for a spiralling drink and cocaine addiction”.

Judge Aubrey said Williams wrote a letter to him expressing his remorse for the killing, but that he found he had little or no genuine remorse for the crime.

Sobbing family members of the mum-of-eight cheered and applauded in the public gallery as Judge Aubrey said Williams would serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars.

The judge said: “You have deprived a close-knit family of her. Many children have lost their mother".

In researching Maxine's murder, one more point became apparent.

For sure the Liverpool Echo covered her death comprehensively. However, mainstream media & press shied away from reporting her murder at any length. A typical example is the BBC.

I think we all know the reasons why, but surely all lives are equal?

Maxine Showers

#EveryThreeDays

Authored By Steph @PlaceSteph

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