Southwark Coroner’s Court, Andrew Harris, heard evidence from a number of State bodies as well as from Refuge over the course of four days.
Emma, a dedicated mother of two young children, was brutally murdered in the street by her ex-partner and father of her second child, Mark Morris, in May 2017 as she collected the children from school. The attack was fuelled by arguments over child support payments – all the evidence confirmed that the issue of child maintenance payments was the most significant precursor to death.
Emma, who was struggling financially, following years of coercive and controlling behaviour from her former partner including economic abuse, had applied to the Child Maintenance Service (‘CMS’) to ensure that she got basic support from her ex-partner and in the best interests of their child. This simple step tragically resulted in her murder. A Domestic Homicide Review, published in March 2019, identified “systemic issues in relation to how domestic violence and abuse are addressed by the Child Maintenance Service” and stated that its management of Emma’s case was “inadequate”. It also noted that 27 days elapsed between Emma’s report to the MPS in April 2016 of his threat to her and any substantive contact with Emma.
The Senior Coroner found that:
In April 2016 the MPS recorded and seized evidence of abusive texts being in breach of Malicious Communications Act, which was arrestable at time, but no arrest was made.
That the perpetrator should have been arrested and interviewed in 2016 but was not because of a dispute between borough commands as to which had the duty to investigate. At the time it would have led to interview with the perpetrator and an arrest, had there been an officer in charge within 48 hours of the report.
That arrest is a tool to disrupt the commission of future offences and thus was an action that potentially could have prevented further violence.
On 1st November 2016 a CMS caseworker was informed that Ms Day had been the subject of threats and abusive texts which were reported to the police. On 3rd November 2016 a CMS caseworker was informed that Ms Day wished to withdraw her claim because her ex-partner had threatened her life. On 16th May 2017 a CMS case officer, unaware of the details in the earlier call to the Child Maintenance Options service that day, heard that there had been domestic violence reported to the police and that the last claim had been cancelled as she was threatened by him’
That there was a failure in May 2017 by the CMS to escalate action when knowledge of the specific threat was known.
The Senior Coroner concluded that there was a system failure in the CMS in handling reports of domestic violence which included the absence of a system in place to deal with concerns that there was of potentially fatal domestic violence triggered by applications for maintenance. He found that that had the death threat been communicated to the police by the CMS this may have led to a different outcome. Evidence before the coroner indicated that approximately 50% of applications to the CSM are made by victims of domestic abuse.
He also found the MPS delay in acting following Emma’s earlier report of threats to kill, dented her confidence and that these police failings may have possibly contributed to her death.
The DHR had recommended an urgent independent review of CMS policy and procedure related to domestic violence. The inquest heard that this has still not taken place over two years later, although it was now imminent. The coroner indicated that he would make a Regulation 28 report to deal with the current deficit in the CMS guidance to its caseworkers in the interim.
Lorna McNamara, Emma’s sister said:
“This inquest into the agencies my sister, Emma Day, had contact with in the year leading up to her death was of extreme importance to us, her family.
We felt that the MPS and DWP had failed her.
The MPS did not take her seriously when she reported the domestic violence, she was experiencing a year before her death. Their lack of action lead to Emma losing confidence in the MPS and not reporting further threats in the week before her murder. We want other women in similar situations to Emma’s to know that the police will respond in a positive and productive way.
The child maintenance service should have more training for staff on how to deal with callers who are victims of domestic violence. For Emma, it’s too late, but if we help other women who find themselves in the same position, then something positive can come from the tragic loss we have experienced”
Sarah Kellas and Maya Sikand QC, the legal team who represented the family, said:
“This inquest is of real significance to those women who are suffering from coercive control and violence, and in particular economic and financial abuse. It has highlighted the serious impact police inaction can have on the confidence of those brave enough to report threats of violence and the urgent need for the DWP to ensure that proper systems and training are in place for those processing child maintenance applications. The statistics show that around 50% [1] of those applying for child maintenance are survivors of DV – those individuals and their children have a right to safe access of the CMS. In this case Emma was brave enough to speak out but was not heard. The family hope that Emma’s tragic death will lead to learning, and safer procedures being implemented so that another tragedy can be averted”.
Harriet Wistrich, director of Centre for Women’s Justice said,
“this is yet another femicide that might have been prevented if better systems for responding to allegations of domestic abuse were in place. We hope that learning from this tragic outcome can help prevent future deaths, and there will be adequate resourcing to institute a national femicide oversight mechanism through the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s office”
[1] The evidence was that Approximately 50% of all new applications attracted the fee exemption, primarily due to notification of domestic abuse – although in a small number of