FAMILY of murdered Hardenhuish sixth former Ellie Gould say the teenager herself had written about the need for tougher sentences for killers in a school essay.

She had written how youngsters who kill are ‘unforgivable’ just weeks before she was stabbed to death by Thomas Griffiths in May.

The 17-year-old - who wanted to join the police - had broken up with Griffiths the day before saying she wanted to spend more time studying for her A levels.

The next day, Griffiths came to her home in Calne and carried out a frenzied knife attack to end her young life.

Griffiths, now 18, has been jailed for life with a minimum of 12.5 years - but the sentence is being reviewed after more than 100 complaints that it was too lenient.

Ellie’s mum, Carole, has now revealed she had written an essay for her A-levels about child killers as part of a school project.

One extract said: “Children should be held criminally responsible as each person has the ability to act in a way which they believe is to be right or wrong.

‘’Children have this ability and they have the understanding that murdering a person is one of the most detrimental and heartless things a person can do.

Mrs Gould said: “‘Ellie thought the sentences for child killers should bring justice for the victim and the victim’s family - so that’s what we’re fighting for.’’

Her mother told the Gazette this week that the night before she was killed she had spoken to Ellie about her relationship with Griffiths when she went to see her in her bedroom and she seemed down.

She said: “She told me that he had been acting a bit odd towards her. But she said ‘don’t worry I will sort it.’ She told him that evening that she wanted to spend more time studying.

“She was never serious about him. She knew she wanted to go to university and wanted to spend her time revising and horse riding.

“He used to come to our house for tea before going to work at Iceland. But he was never going to be the one. It seems he couldn’t take the rejection.”