{"id":4626,"date":"2019-11-11T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T16:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/?p=4626"},"modified":"2019-11-11T16:38:08","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T16:38:08","slug":"woman-killed-by-ex-boyfriend-after-police-were-warned-18-times-of-his-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/2019\/11\/11\/woman-killed-by-ex-boyfriend-after-police-were-warned-18-times-of-his-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman killed by ex-boyfriend after police were warned 18 times of his abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Laura Stuart told officers her partner was threatening \u2018to finish her\u2019 three days before attack &nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/author\/emma-snaith-0\">Emma Snaith<\/a><\/li><li>Friday 16 August 2019 14:00&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/08\/16\/14\/laura-stuart-0.jpg?w968h681\" alt=\"Laura Stuart was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2017 after 18 reports of his abuse were reported to the police \"\/><figcaption>Laura Stuart was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2017 after 18 reports of his abuse were reported to the police&nbsp;<em>( Photography by North Wales Police )<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A woman was killed by her ex-boyfriend after reporting&nbsp;his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/domestic-violence\">abuse<\/a>&nbsp;to police 18 times before her death, it has emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Stuart was subjected to escalating \u201cdistress, isolation and humiliation\u201d in the two years leading up to her death, an independent report into police conduct found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 33-year-old was murdered by her former partner Jason Cooper as she was walking home from a night out in Denbigh,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/NorthWales\">North Wales<\/a>, on 12 August 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cooper stabbed Ms Stuart in the street with a kitchen knife and then kicked her in the face and chest after she had collapsed to the pavement. She died in hospital two days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three days before the attack, Ms Stuart had warned police that Cooper was threatening \u201cto finish her\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/11\/05\/17\/jo-swinson-Election.jpg?width=1000&amp;height=614&amp;fit=bounds&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=70&amp;crop=16:9,offset-y0.5\" alt=\"5 November 2019\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Cooper was jailed for 31 years over her&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/murder\">murder<\/a>&nbsp;in March 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms Stuart is one of 55 British women killed by men they knew after they had reported abuse over three years between 2015 and 2017, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_uk\/article\/9kmy3a\/49-british-women-were-killed-by-men-they-previously-reported-to-police\">Freedom of Information request<\/a>&nbsp;found. Across Wales, nine women were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/independent-office-for-police-conduct\">Independent Office for Police Conduct<\/a>&nbsp;(IOPC) found 18 reports were made to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/north-wales-police\">North Wales Police<\/a>&nbsp;between August 2015 and August 2017 concerning Ms Stuart and Cooper, including allegations of assault and verbal altercations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cReports made to police included allegations that Mr Cooper had used violence, made threats, had financial influence over Laura, attempted to remove her from the house following arguments and had threatened to distribute intimate photographs of her,\u201d Mel Palmer of the IOPC said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/08\/16\/13\/jason-cooper.png\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption>Cooper was jailed for 31 years over her Ms Stuart\u2019s murder&nbsp;(North Wales Police)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But prior to Ms Stuart\u2019s murder, Cooper was not arrested or interviewed about&nbsp;the alleged&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/domestic-abuse\">domestic abuse<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, his phone was not seized to progress&nbsp;allegations&nbsp;of harassment, stalking or malicious communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Register with your social account&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a>click&nbsp;here<\/a>&nbsp;to log in<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/register-redirect?newsItemType=receiveIndyHeadlinesNews&amp;regSourceMethod=Article%2BSignpost&amp;social=twitter\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/register-redirect?newsItemType=receiveIndyHeadlinesNews&amp;regSourceMethod=Article%2BSignpost&amp;social=googleplus\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/register-redirect?newsItemType=receiveIndyHeadlinesNews&amp;regSourceMethod=Article%2BSignpost&amp;social=facebook\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a>I&nbsp;<strong>would<\/strong>&nbsp;like to receive morning headlinesMonday &#8211; Friday plus breaking news alerts by email<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the report did find police made \u201cnumerous, unsuccessful attempts\u201d to get accounts from Ms Stuart of two allegations of assault. But officers did not pursue additional safeguarding measures beyond referring her to other agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One police officer was also found guilty of misconduct by failing to comply with police domestic policy after Cooper sent threatening messages to Ms Stuart. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Welsh&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/womens-aid\">Women\u2019s Aid<\/a>&nbsp;said the report was \u201cyet another stark reminder of the devastating impact of domestic abuse\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;organisation&nbsp;called for more effective training of officers and in responding to reports of abuse and taking action to hold perpetrators of abuse to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny disclosure of abuse must always be treated with the highest priority,\u201d it added. \u201cThe risk posed by stalking and harassing behaviour, whether this is in person or via phone calls, texts or social media must not be downgraded or dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the report\u2019s publication, Ms Palmer of the IOPC said:&nbsp;\u201cThe range of characteristics and dynamics of domestic abuse mean that police officers need to be vigilant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIncidents that may be perceived as low-risk need to be viewed as part of a bigger picture so that forces view risk holistically to better safeguard women like Laura.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since Ms Stuart\u2019s murder, North Wales Police said it had now changed how it deals with domestic abuse calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has made\u00a0it best\u00a0practice for officers to activate body-worn video equipment when attending domestic abuse incidents and employed a trainer to educate staff in dealing with different situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms Stuart\u2019s mother Liz Griffiths previously told the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-wales-45800594\">BBC<\/a>&nbsp;that her daughter had been \u201clet down\u201d by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe [Cooper] just wouldn\u2019t leave her alone \u2026&nbsp;He would text her saying, \u2018If I can\u2019t have you, nobody\u2019s going to have you,\u2019\u201d&nbsp;she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf they\u2019d [the police] actually spoken to him, actually physically went and spoken to him, gave him a&nbsp;little bit&nbsp;of a push to say stop messaging her and stop harassing her, I think maybe he would have listened&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;you\u2019d hope that he would have listened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Superintendent Nick Evans said\u200b the force accepted the findings of the IOPC investigation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis has resulted in improvements to our policy on how domestic abuse incidents are dealt with, further training for our frontline staff and an investment in an increased number of domestic abuse specialists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Laura Stuart told officers her partner was threatening \u2018to finish her\u2019 three days before attack &nbsp; Emma Snaith Friday 16 August 2019 14:00&nbsp; A woman was killed by her ex-boyfriend after reporting&nbsp;his&nbsp;abuse&nbsp;to police 18 times before her death, it has emerged. Laura Stuart was subjected to escalating \u201cdistress, isolation and humiliation\u201d in the two years [&#8230;]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"tpgb_global_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"tpgb_featured_images":{"full":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/laura-stuart-0.jpg",968,726,false],"tp-image-grid":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/laura-stuart-0.jpg",700,525,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/laura-stuart-0-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/laura-stuart-0-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/laura-stuart-0-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/laura-stuart-0.jpg",968,726,false],"default":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/plugins\/the-plus-addons-for-block-editor\/assets\/images\/tpgb-placeholder.jpg"},"tpgb_post_meta_info":{"get_date":"November 11, 2019","get_modified_date":"November 11, 2019","category_list":{"category":[{"term_id":19,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":19,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":238,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":false,"post_format":false},"author_name":"Hope To Heal","author_url":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/author\/hope2233\/","author_email":"webmaster@hopetoheal.org.za","author_website":"","author_description":"Our mission is for women and children to live free from violence and abuse and to provide quality, compassionate, and nonjudgmental services in a manner that fosters self-respect and independence in persons experiencing domestic violence and child abuse and to lead the struggle to end domestic violence through advocacy and community education.","author_facebook":"","author_twitter":"","author_instagram":"","author_role":["administrator"],"author_firstname":"Hope To","author_lastname":"Heal Foundation","user_login":"Hope2233","author_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00ba9733f71edb9653d7f34fee6719bfc21db4d30ee7e9a8d61ac758d1032f46?s=200&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00ba9733f71edb9653d7f34fee6719bfc21db4d30ee7e9a8d61ac758d1032f46?s=400&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-200 photo' height='200' width='200' decoding='async'\/>","author_avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00ba9733f71edb9653d7f34fee6719bfc21db4d30ee7e9a8d61ac758d1032f46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","comment_count":0,"post_likes":0,"post_views":0},"tpgb_post_category":{"category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/category\/news\/\" alt=\"News\"  class=\"category-news\">News<\/a> "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4628,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions\/4628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}