Refuge comment on Pemberton Homicide Judicial Review

Monday, July 31, 2006

Refuge comment on: Judicial review to agree the terms of reference for the Pemberton Homicide Review following the murders of Julia and William Pemberton by Alan Pemberton

Sandra Horley, OBE and Chief Executive of Refuge says:

“Refuge believes that domestic violence homicide reviews can be a good thing.  They can provide a valuable opportunity for agencies such as the Police to learn lessons about domestic violence deaths.  However, they cannot, and should not, take the place of a thorough and rigorous Article 2 inquiry under the European Convention of Human Rights.  The European court has ruled that States have an obligation under Article 2 to carry out an effective investigation when an individual’s death or injury has been caused by the acts or omissions of a public authority.

“It is anticipated that the main function of a domestic violence homicide review is for agencies to learn lessons that will prevent similar tragedies in the future.  But while these homicide reviews will have responsibility to examine the practice of agencies in order to bring about change, they will be limited in their involvement of families of domestic violence victims.  And most critically, unlike Article 2 inquiries, domestic violence homicide reviews will not be open and transparent nor have the duty to publicly expose failings or hold anyone accountable. Without openness, transparency and accountability the homicide review process has the potential to cover up mistakes that no one will ever discover.

“Coroners and the courts are often presented with the big questions of whether a domestic violence homicide could have been predicted or prevented.  In this case Refuge believes that in order to answer them, it is important to pay attention to the small questions: Why did the police not take a full statement from Julia when she initially reported the death threats? Why was Alan Pemberton never arrested, even when he breached the injunction against him? Why did a Judge downgrade Julia’s injunction to an undertaking?  Why did the police take no action following reports of harassment and stalking?  Why did the police lose vital evidence of death threats against Julia?  Why was no formal referral made to domestic violence agencies or to the social services child protection team?  Why did her final 999 call not trigger an immediate response from the Police, despite assurances that a 999 call, even silent, would be enough?  Why was Julia told the police were on their way when they were not? And finally, when the Police arrived an hour later, discovering William shot dead on the drive, why did they wait almost six hours to enter the house? 

“These questions, detailing the circumstances, were presented to the Coroner.  It is therefore inconceivable that he did not call for a wider investigation into the actions of the Police, under Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights holding them accountable and bringing this appalling series of events into the public domain.  

“Refuge has long campaigned for widescale domestic violence training across all agencies, including the Coroner and the courts.  Without this training, Refuge believes mistakes will continue to be made in future and vulnerable women and children will not get the protection they need and deserve.   With a co-ordinated and appropriate response in place across all agencies, there might have been a different outcome in this case – Julia and William might still be alive today.