The police’s refusal to hand over potentially life-saving information about a woman’s convicted abuser husband contributed to her murder, a bereaved mother has claimed.
Hilary Stinchcombe, whose daughter and granddaughter were brutally killed, told The Independent their lives could have been saved if the police had informed the family of his history of domestic abuse.
The 61-year-old said the family were unfairly denied information about her daughter’s murderer, with the police wrongly telling them the background check request must come directly from the victim.
Christopher Boon murdered his wife Laura Mortimer and his 11-year-old stepdaughter Ella Dalby in the early hours of May 2018. Boon stabbed the pair 42 times in the kitchen of her home in Gloucester.
Ms Mortimer’s family had raised concerns to police under the scheme known as Clare’s Law – named after 36-year-old Clare Wood, who was murdered by an ex-boyfriend with a record of violence against women.
The scheme, rolled out in 2014, enables people to ask police forces about an individual’s history of domestic abuse or violent offences.
Unbeknown to the family, Boon had been handed a suspended sentence for assaulting both his former partner and her mother in front of two children in 2010.
Ms Stinchcombe said it was disgusting that police failed to understand how rules around domestic abuse disclosures worked and said she would not have let Boon near the children or in her house if she had realised he had previous convictions.
“He beat her up on a Boxing Day morning,” she said. “She was taken to hospital with a broken nose and black eyes.”
She added: “My daughter went down there to the police station to do a Clare’s Law disclosure afterwards and they said no. She was convinced he had previous convictions – somebody had said to her, but none of us knew until the court date.”
It comes as The Independent revealed thousands of vulnerable women are being left at serious risk of harm due to police not handing over potentially life-saving information on abusers.
Data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council shows more than half of the 20,226 background check requests on potential domestic abusers were rejected between October 2021 to March 2022.
Ms Stinchcombe described Boon as a “horrible, selfish, vile” individual who inflicted violence and abuse on Ms Mortimer and would “do anything” to keep her away from her own daughter.
“She would go out with her friends,” she recalled. “He would ring her every five minutes. And when my daughter went out with her shopping, he would ring all the time: ‘How long are you going to be? Where are you? What are you doing?’”
Ms Stinchcombe said she is consumed by thoughts of the killing of her daughter and granddaughter every morning when she wakes up, and every night when she goes to sleep.
“I had to identify them,” she said. “It was so horrific. That is why I don’t sleep at night. I have flashbacks. Every time I lie down I picture the day I had to identify their bodies.”
She advised anyone who is in a situation of domestic abuse to escape, but never tell the perpetrator they are leaving, as well as urging anyone who is worried about a loved one to seek a Clare’s Law disclosure.
A spokesperson for Gloucester Police noted the review into the deaths stated their force’s policy for Clare’s Law previously only permitted disclosure to the individual in the relationship.
“However, since the introduction of statutory government guidance in 2022, the constabulary will now consider disclosure to another person in particular circumstances,” the representative added.
Anyone who requires help or support can contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline which is open 24/7 365 days per year on 0808 2000 247 or via their website https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/