She was the victim of a violent robbery and rape in 1986 at a vicarage in Ealing, London, a crime for which the perpetrators' relatively lenient sentences led indirectly to changes in the law.

[9] At the trial of the perpetrators in 1987, the judge, John Leonard, gave those responsible longer sentences for the burglary than for the rape, stating: "Because I have been told the trauma suffered by the victim was not so great, I shall take a lenient course with you".

[7] The sentence was criticised by senior British politicians of the time, including then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and opposition leader Neil Kinnock, while others complained that property was being valued more highly than a human body.

[11][13] Criminologist Anthony Bottoms described the case as "a particularly striking example of some fault lines deeply embedded within the institutional structures of the English sentencing processes" of the time.

[11][12] Four days after the incident, The Sun published a photograph of Saward with just her eyes blacked out, as well as an image of her home on its front page, jeopardising her anonymity.

[15] The newspaper's editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, said he printed the images because a rape victim only earned the right to anonymity once a suspect had been charged with the offence.

Saward told Elizabeth Grice in an interview for The Daily Telegraph in 2006: "Of course, sometimes I thought it might be quite nice to be full of hatred and revenge.

[27] Explaining the goal of the campaign, Saward wrote: "We envisage this being done by a DVD that is played in open court that addresses some of the most common myths.

"[28] In January 2015, Saward debated the campaign's goals with Helen Reece, lecturer in law at the London School of Economics, on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

[31][32] On the issue of detaining suspects for up to 42 days, she told Julie Bindel: "If the police say they need more time to work on these cases, then I support them".

[34][35][36][37] Jill Saward died on 5 January 2017, in New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, following a subarachnoid hemorrhage two days earlier.