Woman died during police call to report partner

Daniela Espirito Santo died while on hold to the police

A mother died while she was on the phone to police reporting an assault, an inquest heard.

Daniela Espirito Santo, 23, from Grantham, died on 9 April 2020 while on hold after being told to dial the non-emergency 101 number, a jury in Lincoln was told.

The inquest heard Ms Espirito Santo reported partner Julio Jesus the day before her death for attacking her shortly after he had been released on bail by police, having allegedly assaulted her that morning.

A report from pathologist Dr Francis Hollingbury highlighted that the post-mortem showed Ms Espirito Santo, who suffered from a heart condition known as myocarditis, died as a "result of acute deterioration of the heart".

The inquest, at the Myle Cross Centre, heard Ms Espirito Santo also called police multiple times about her partner between May 2019 and April 2020.

After an incident on the morning of 8 April 2020, where Mr Jesus was alleged to have pinned Ms Espirito Santo down and pushed his arm against her throat, he was arrested but released at 18:00 BST on bail subject to conditions not to return to the house or contact her.

Mr Jesus broke his bail conditions by calling Ms Espirito Santo and returning to their property in Grantham later that evening.

Distraught cries

Ms Espirito Santo called 999 at 23:22 claiming to have been assaulted by Mr Jesus.

However, the police call handler deemed it non-urgent as Mr Jesus had left the home and told Ms Espirito Santo to call 101.

The inquest was told she was on hold for eight minutes before the non-emergency call handler answered. All the handler could hear at this point were the distraught cries of Ms Espirito Santo's six-month-old baby.

An ambulance was called and CPR was performed, but she was pronounced dead at 00:58 on 9 April.

Dr Hollingbury's report found that Ms Espirito Santo suffered injuries to her forehead, cheek and jaw before her death and that she also had bruising on her breast and right arm.

Ms Espirito Santo's stepdad described her as a "strong character" who "lived for her family".

The inquest also heard from PC Miller, of Lincolnshire Police, who attended an incident on 19 May 2019.

He completed a domestic assault, stalking and harassment form on behalf of Ms Espirito Santo, where he concluded she was "certainly not worried about any further offences".

PC Miller ruled the risk to Ms Espirito Santo as "standard", meaning the likely risk of harm was low.

Ms Espirito Santo's stepdad, Joaquim Manedo, described her as a "strong character" who "lived for her family" and "did everything for her children".

He described her five-year relationship with Mr Jesus by saying it "seemed good at first" but he got "increasingly possessive of her" and Ms Espirito Santo became "more introverted".

Mr Manedo said: "I cannot describe how I felt when police told me Daniela had died."

The inquest continues.

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.