Editor: Impossible to understand but we mustn’t just accept that

Murder is always hard to comprehend but the death of young children or people just going about their normal business hits us particularly hard.

We shake our heads in horror as tears well up in our eyes for people we never met but shared the same city as us, knew the same landmarks and spoke the way we do.

We can’t imagine what those closest to them are going through as they begin that very long process of grieving in circumstances that are unimaginable.

This city was horrified by the killing on High Street on Friday and yesterday, had to try and come to terms with the loss of three schoolchildren and a mum.

None of it makes sense. All we can do is hug our own family a little bit tighter and send strength to the bereaved in any way possible.

But is that enough? How many stories do we read about mothers and children killed by a man? When will be able to guarantee that women are safe in their own homes, that they can walk the streets without fear and that domestic violence will be taken seriously?

Things might be beginning to change slowly and there are some incredible support groups out there – yet still more women and children are killed.

None of us yet know what happened in those awful hours and it isn’t for us to speculate – it is for the courts to establish the facts.

However we know that four innocent people are now dead and they shouldn’t be. When will it end?

As I watched the national news last night, this quadruple murder wasn’t even the top story. I can’t help but think, with a broken heart, that it is because this isn’t unique. We have heard of similarly horrific incidents before. Something must be done and women’s safety must be taken more seriously.

For now we are a city in mourning but we must also demand radical change so no more lives are lost in such unbearable tragedies and more families are not destroyed. That can’t be impossible, can it?

Police called it ‘an isolated incident’. Their interpretation of that phrase is clearly different to mine. Rest in peace, precious ones.