THE inspirational Claire Throssell MBE has dedicated two awards she received for her book to the community that helped rebuild her life following the death of her two children Jack and Paul.

Claire has been campaigning for 11 years to repeal the presumption of court after her sons died in a a house fire at the hands of their known domestically abusive father.

The presumption of parental involvement is a legal principle in the Children Act 1989 that means that any parent, even those who are known domestic abusers, should be given contact with their children.

Her book, ‘For My Boys’, tells her heartbreaking story which has reached millions around the world and has subsequently led to a change in law which will protect countless children from dangerous parents in the future.

At the end of her book, she originally set a challenge for Prime Minister Keir Starmer as to whether or not he would be the one to make the change - and he quite literally changed the ending after meeting with Claire late last year.

The book won two awards at the True Crime Awards last week - The Impact for Change and it was highly commended in the Best Audio Book category.

Claire told the Chronicle: “When I wrote the book, it was many, many hours and many tears, tissues, pens and bottles of wine.

“It very nearly broke me but I made a conscious decision to be completely honest and open in my book in the hope that it would save at least one life or change one person’s life.

“I never thought it would go to awards.

“I never thought that it would have such an impact and last Thursday attending the ceremony, it was kind of a surreal moment for my book to win both awards.

“I didn’t write it for that.

“I wrote it to help people - and if one person can affiliate with it and feel less alone and less ashamed, then the book has done everything that I wanted it to do.”

Claire admits that the response to the book has been overwhelming, but the love and support that she has received from the community from the very start has pushed her through.

“It’s made me cry at times because it’s a validation, if you like, that what I’ve written is something people can connect with,” she added.

“I’m absolutely overwhelmed with the comments that I’ve had.

“The fact that the community still has that circle of love around the boys - which started from the final farewell - and it hasn’t broken.

“It’s tighter than ever and I’m so lucky to have that.

“The community showed me humanity, love and compassion and literally rebuilt my life.

“I’ve had to do it myself as well - every single brick cut my hand and made me bleed.

“And when it shook again, every now and again, like when the government wasn’t getting the the presumption through quick enough, I have to rebuild, I have to strengthen those foundations and it cuts.

“It makes me bleed but people don’t see that blood because it’s from the inside.

“But the way people respond and the way people care means that Jack and Paul’s legacy will be alive beyond me and that was the main aim.”

It’s been a whirlwind few months since Claire met the Prime Minister at Downing Street.

She added: “Finally after 11 years Keir Starmer has started the process in a bill.

“It has gone through two stages and it has been granted permission to be extended because the first parliamentary session has ended.

“Next up is the third reading and then the Lords.

“There was no promise when I started writing the book.

“Within weeks of the book coming out Keir Starmer met me personally and made the decision.

“He was the first Prime Minister in six that actually saw Jack and Paul’s photograph, spoke about them and made a promise to change everything.

“There’s not many authors that have a Prime Minister change the ending of a book, so I’ll take that.”