'Missed opportunities' over Travelodge killer

Stephen Cole applied for housing after prison but no action was taken, the inquest heard

A prison healthcare firm missed opportunities to support a former inmate who killed a hotel worker during a psychotic episode, an inquest has heard.

Stephen Cole, 32, launched a 42-minute attack on Marta Elena Vento, 27, who was on a solo night shift at the Travelodge in Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, on 9 December 2020.

Practice Plus Group (PPG), a healthcare contractor, took no action to progress his council housing application and did not refer him to the NHS, the Dorset inquest was told.

Senior PPG nurse Antoinette Hopkin said the prison mental health team was overwhelmed due to understaffing and the Covid pandemic.

Cole was released homeless from HMP Winchester on 27 October 2020 with a four-week supply of antipsychotic drugs, it was previously heard.

A prison psychiatrist had noted: "His risk to others will have to be closely monitored as he has assaulted prisoners and staff in an unprovoked manner."

Six weeks later, he came out of his hotel room and punched, kicked and attacked Ms Elena Vento with hair clippers.

In 2021, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and was given an indefinite hospital order.

Marta Elena Vento was killed while working alone at a Travelodge hotel

Giving evidence, Mrs Hopkin admitted the prison mental health team had not discharged Cole properly.

She said: "We have missed opportunities... We should have written to his former GP and [also] ensured that this housing request had been actioned."

A further task to liaise with the NHS over Cole's mental health care was only allocated to a nurse on 24 November and was never completed, it was heard.

Mrs Hopkin said her team was under severe pressure due to Covid and the loss of many senior staff when PPG (then named Care UK) took over the prison healthcare contract on 1 July 2020.

She said: "The day-to-day was almost like crisis work.

"Admin tasks would build up and we wouldn't always get to them in a timely manner."

Barrister Matthew Hill, on behalf of Ms Elena Vento's family, suggested that PPG had breached numerous guidelines on the care of released prisoners, due to a lack of capacity.

However, Mrs Hopkin said it was "unrealistic" to fulfil a guideline to create a full release plan for every remand prisoner.

Ms Elena Vento's death changed practices at Winchester prisoner, the inquest was told

Previously, the inquest heard Cole had been released "suddenly" from prison after pleading guilty to three counts of indecent exposure, for which he was given a sexual harm prevention order.

No plan for his release had been made, although he was not considered by the jail to be exceptionally dangerous, the coroner was told.

In the light of Ms Elena Vento's death, HMP Winchester had started to screen remand prisoners to consider whether they might pose a future danger, the inquest heard.

Previously, Ms Elena Vento's parents, from Valencia, Spain, said their lives had been "destroyed by the sudden, horrific death of our beautiful daughter".

In a statement before the hearing, they said: "Now we desperately need answers about how such a brutal assault can have happened and whether it could have been prevented."

The Bournemouth inquest, which is being heard without a jury, is expected to last up to six weeks.