Yahoo Finance Call for action after mother is murdered by abusive ex
The Government has been urged to better protect victims of domestic violence after a mother-of-two was murdered on the school run in south London by her abusive ex-partner.
Emma Day, 33, was stabbed to death by Mark Morris in West Norwood after she had sought £2,000 a year in child maintenance payments. Morris threatened Ms Day’s life repeatedly before the murder, vowing: “I’ll go to prison before you get a penny from me.”
An inquest heard that Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) case workers knew of threats to Ms Day, but the system to raise the alarm and protect her “fell down”.
Coroner Andrew Harris found public authorities had failed Ms Day and has now called for government action to ensure victims are protected in future.
“A public body has an obligation to minimise risk when there is evidence of a threat to life,” he wrote in a prevention of future deaths report published this week.
Ms Day’s sister, Lorna McNamara, called for reform of domestic violence responses, saying: “For Emma, it’s too late, but if we help other women in the same position, then something positive can come from the tragic loss.”
Morris, who had a child with Ms Day from their eight-year “on-off” relationship, killed her as she walked home from the school run on May 25, 2017, and is now serving a life sentence.
Ms Day had started a child maintenance claim in November 2016 but withdrew it, telling the case worker she had been threatened by Morris. A further claim stalled between January 2017 and shortly before her death.
Mr Harris urged the Government to adopt recommendations from a 2019 Domestic Homicide Review into Ms Day’s death, which found “systemic issues” in the handling of domestic abuse cases by the Child Maintenance Service.
The report has been sent to the DWP, the Met, Home Office and the Ministry of Justice for their comments by the end of September.
The DWP said staff have been given mandatory training on identifying the signs of domestic violence and helping victims since 2017, and “has strengthened its processes to ensure those experiencing domestic abuse are supported and can set up a child maintenance arrangement safely”.
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