Pilkington verdict: communication failure major factor

By Paul Carter

Failings of police and two local authorities were a major contributing factor to the deaths of Fiona Pilkington and her disabled daughter Francecca, an inquest jury has ruled.

The jury returned a verdict of suicide against Mrs Pilkington and ruled that Francecca, known as Frankie, was unlawfully killed.

The inquest heard that, as previously reported in Disability Now, the family had been subjected to years of abuse and harassment from a gang of local youths in Barwell, Leicestershire, eventually leading Mrs Pilkington to set alight the family car in October 2007 with herself and her daughter inside.

It has been revealed that Mrs Pilkington made 33 calls to police over a ten year period, along with several letters and calls to both Leicestershire County Council and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, but little was done to help.

Temporary Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary, Chris Eyre, said the force was “extremely sorry” that its actions “failed to meet the family’s needs.”

He said: “Fiona’s life was extremely difficult in many ways. To whatever extent that the Constabulary’s actions contributed to Fiona’s mindset at the time that she and Frankie died I would like to offer my unreserved apologies to the family, the community and wider public.”

“In 2007, at the time of this tragedy we had well established information sharing and operational meetings with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council to address anti-social behaviour. Despite this, the vulnerability of Fiona and her family and the impact of the antisocial behaviour they were experiencing were not picked up,” he added.

Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, said it was a “shocking and immensely distressing case.”

He said the Pilkington family “suffered intimidation at the hands of a local gang, culminating in a sustained level of abuse that no family should have to tolerate.”

“Leicestershire Police and their local authority partners have had some hard lessons to learn about past failures, which will be the subject of further investigations,” he said.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has confirmed it would be investigating Leicestershire Police’s response.

Steve Atkinson, Chief Executive of Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, expressed his sympathy for Mrs Pilkington’s family, but said that the council were not aware of the history of harassment prior to February 2007.

“We recognise and accept that better sharing of information would have led to more concerted action to protect the family. It is for this reason that we have looked at the way we share information and brought in measures to progress actions and ensure accountability for them,” he said.

“Nothing we have done will bring back Fiona or Frankie, but at least now we have put things in place to reduce the potential of a similar event happening again.”

Disability charity Scope said that the case highlights the need for such incidences to be identified and treated as disability hate crimes.

Ruth Scott, Director of Policy and Campaigns said: "Disabled people continue to find it difficult to access services, including those provided by the police and local authorities. This remains a huge barrier to addressing hate crime. Those that do report these crimes often find they are not taken seriously.

"In addition to better training of front-line staff across public services, to ensure they recognise the signs of disability hate crime, greater collaborative working and information sharing between police forces and local authorities is needed. This must focus on the needs of the individual disabled person, and the realities of their situation.”

Speaking after the inquest, Pam and David Cassell, Fiona’s parents and Frankie’s grandparents said their lives would never be the same again.

“This case has highlighted the difficulties that families with disabled children face. We know that the agencies involved have looked to see how they can improve the way they work,” they said.

“If this helps just one family then their deaths would not have been in vain and something good will have come out of this tragedy.”