Lessons must be learned following the tragic death of a loving mother-of-four who was killed by her partner, Cheshire East councillors have said.

The 53-year-old woman, referred to as Pam, died in August 2019. Her partner was considered unfit to stand trial due to a health condition and, after being found responsible by a jury for killing Pam, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order.

Pam's tragic death, and the circumstances leading up to it, were discussed at the adults and health committee as councillors considered the domestic homicide review. One of the main purposes of a review is to establish what lessons can be learned, particularly regarding the way professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims.

All councillors expressed their condolences to Pam's family and committee chair Jill Rhodes told Monday's meeting: "I think what's important for Pam and her family is that we work on those lessons learned and, if possible, we try to prevent another tragedy."

Image by Luisella Planeta from Pixabay

The meeting was told by director of adults and social care Jill Broomhall: "Pam did have a history of alcohol abuse and of domestic abuse from her partners over many years. The perpetrator had a diagnosis of Huntington's disease, which is a neurological inherited brain disease. The perpetrator was known to adult social care, Pam was not known to adult social care."

The report referred to various incidents of domestic abuse where police were called but Pam did not wish to pursue the matter.

Both Pam and the perpetrator failed to attend medical and other care appointments.

Cllr Stewart Gardiner (Knutsford, Con) said: "I am not convinced that the circumstances of this case, or the unfortunate end result, could have been prevented."

Cllr Stewart Gardiner, Knutsford, Con.

He acknowledged there were 'missed opportunities' and questioned whether it was right someone who lived a 'chaotic' lifestyle should be 'knocked off the system' – as Pam appeared to have had been – because they missed two medical appointments.

He added: "The other thing is, the criminal justice system seems to fail people who are in vulnerable relationships. It doesn't recognise that if you are being abused by your partner you are probably scared of that person and therefore, however much you are in a dangerous position, you probably won't take the action necessary to take that person out of your life.

"I would like to see the criminal justice system review that and see ways in which they can override the need for the victim to bring that matter forward."

Cllr Nicola Cook (Elworth, Ind) said it appeared 'there were opportunities missed to focus on the perpetrator's behaviour with the ultimate goal to stop the abuse'.

Cllr Nicola Cook, Sandbach Elworth, Ind.

"There is clearly learning to take with regard to the sharing of information and I note, in particular, the relative lack of information shared with adult social services about Pam, which was essential in order that she could be fully supported," she said.

"The report outlines that whenever someone exposes domestic abuse they should be believed and supported. The review highlights a number of these moments that were missed… I would hope the recommendations in this report, when fully implemented, may change the way domestic abuse victims and perpetrators are supported in the future."

Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury, Con) said: "Sometimes the best support for the victim is if you are dealing and managing the perpetrator in an effective way and I think some of the failure for those multi-agency partners to actually engage effectively and in a timely way with the domestic violence services may have contributed, and that has come across in some of the recommendations."

The committee agreed to seek a review of the progress towards the lessons learned and that the report should be published on the Safer Cheshire East website.

Cllr Janet Clowes, Wybunbury, Con

The most recent Office for National Statistics figures show 17,154 domestic abuse-related crimes were recorded by Cheshire Constabulary over the most recent 12 month period, slightly down from the year before.

If you know somebody affected by abuse - help is here - such as organisations like Macclesfield's Cheshire Without Abuse.

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