Donna Williamson murder: 'systemic failures on domestic violence support'

A jury has returned a verdict of unlawful killing on a victim of domestic violence who was murdered by her ex-partner.

The jury also identified “systemic failures” in the support provided to victims of domestic violence. The coroner has called for national changes to increase support for domestic violence victims and said the current system was failing to protect them.

Kevin O’Regan, 38, the former partner of Donna Williamson, 44, was convicted of her murder in February 2017 at the Old Bailey and sentenced to a minimum of 20 years.

He stabbed Williamson in the chest more than a dozen times on 12 August 2016, at her home in Lewisham, south-east London, just four days after a court had banned him from contacting her. He believed she had been seeing other men.

The inquest into Williamson’s death at Inner South London coroners court examined the role of the Metropolitan police and other agencies involved in supporting Williamson before the murder.

Police had been involved in the case since 2009 and had visited at least 12 times. But the unit responsible for monitoring the safety of domestic violence victims failed to properly investigate, the inquest heard. Williamson was in contact with at least 14 statutory and voluntary agencies in the year of her death but none failed to prevent the murder.

The jury found that there was “persistent failure to assess and record an appropriate level of risk” to Williamson and “systemic failures that resulted in missed opportunities to reduce or eliminate risks”.

At the time of the murder O’Regan was on bail having been arrested three months earlier for assaulting Williamson and three police officers. His bail conditions prohibited him from making contact with his ex-partner or entering the borough of Lewisham.

However, six days before the murder he threatened her with a knife but he was only arrested for breach of bail, not for the knife threats. He appeared in court four days before the murder, but the police failed to tell the prosecutor about the knife threats and he was released with the same bail conditions.

Shortly before he murdered Williamson he was stopped by police a few roads away from her home. A check was conducted on the police national computer and, although there was a marker next to his name flagging the bar on him entering Lewisham or seeing Williamson, police said he was free to go. Approximately 30 minutes later he murdered her.

DI Lee Barnard, the operational lead for the Met’s stalking threat assessment centre, admitted in court that there were several occasions when Williamson was not assessed properly by police. He said that officers had not realised the level of risk she faced. He added that extensive training has been implemented by the Met since the murder.

Williamson’s mother Susan Williamson told the Guardian that although her daughter rarely drank alcohol before her relationship with O’Regan began, she developed a problem with drink, especially in the last two years of her life.

The court heard that when police did call at her home she was too intoxicated to engage and the officer concluded she was not vulnerable. In fact Williamson had complex needs including alcoholism, depression and a disability following a broken femur and hip replacement.

Susan Williamson said she hoped the findings of her daughter’s inquest would bring about changes to the way victims of domestic violence were supported.

“The loss of Donna has broken us,” she said. “Kevin O’Regan didn’t like Donna being with her family, he wanted total control over her. He was like a maggot crawling into her brain. But thanks to the jury’s strong findings and the coroner’s recommendations we hope other victims of domestic violence can be saved.”

The senior coroner Andrew Harris said: “The system we have cannot be relied upon to deliver for the most vulnerable. This seems to be a problem which is national.”

His recommendations to improve protection include ensuring victims of domestic violence are informed if perpetrators have been released from custody on bail, which he will make in a prevention of future deaths report. Harris added that GPs should be aware of their duty to report concerns about domestic violence to police and failures of multi-agency risk assessment conferences to protect complex and chaotic victims of domestic violence such as Williamson.

Sophie Naftalin, of the family’s lawyer Bhatt Murphy solicitors, said: “Donna was extremely vulnerable and was unable to take basic steps to protect herself. Domestic homicides are at epidemic levels with two per week. The evidence we heard shows a gulf between Met police policy on domestic violence and the actions of police officers on the ground. The Met must now review whether officers are getting the training they need to support domestic violence victims and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

A spokeswoman for the Met said it was not commenting on the case at the moment.