Clare Nash: Inquest jury find police failing prior to woman's murder

Clare Nash spoke to police about being frightened of her ex-partner the night before he killed her

Police failings might have contributed to the death of a woman murdered by her ex-partner, an inquest jury found.

Clare Nash, 33, was stabbed multiple times and strangled by Charles Jessop at her flat in Newmarket, Suffolk, on 16 January 2020.

She had spoken to police multiple times in the weeks leading up to her death, including the day before she died.

The jury at Suffolk Coroner's Court in Ipswich concluded that Ms Nash had been unlawfully killed.

The mother-of-two's medical cause of death was established as a combination of compression of the neck and multiple stab wounds.

The court previously heard that two days before her death Jessop had threatened Ms Nash, telling her he "would get her" and that "if you lose me you lose everything".

She reported him to police following the threat and also complained he was harassing her with 30 phone calls a day.

Prior to January, she had reported an assault on 5 December and a further incident on 11 December.

Charles Jessop stabbed Clare Nash multiple times and strangled her

The jury returned a majority conclusion that highlighted "insufficient evidence-gathering in a timely manner to progress the investigation" into Jessop "may have contributed to her death".

A filing error with a crime report, poor monitoring of an online work tray and staff shortages meant the 5 December report was not picked up and actioned again until 21 December.

The jury added "insufficient following" of Suffolk Constabulary's domestic abuse policy "to proactively police and gather evidence from sources other than the victim also hindered the progression of reported incidents".

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The jury said this, along with a failure to add a task of interviewing Jessop's flat-mate by a supervising officer, meant there was a lack of information for officers who attended following the report on 14 January 2020.

However, they said they felt other areas of policing were done correctly, including completion of the domestic abuse, stalking and harassment (DASH) forms, which includes risk assessments.

It was also noted by the jury that repeated attempts had been made to contact Ms Nash by the force.

A jury found police failings may have contributed to the death of Ms Nash

Jessop was convicted and jailed for murdering Ms Nash last year.

Suffolk coroner Jacqueline Devonish said she was satisfied "significant learning as a direct result" of Ms Nash's death had taken place at Suffolk Constabulary.

Changes made by the force included a new domestic abuse delivery board that meets monthly and works on a development plan, which includes a focus on changing the culture of domestic abuse policing.

Ms Nash was killed by her ex-partner in her home

As a result, she said it was not appropriate to make a prevention of future deaths report.

Ms Nash's father, Brian Nash, previously told the inquest in a statement his daughter was "a beautiful girl, full of love".

Speaking after the inquest, he said: "On 11 January 2020 I spent a fabulous day with my beautiful daughter and grandchildren. Five days later my world was broken - my daughter brutally murdered.

"The murderer with a life imprisonment sentence, we stand here today with the acknowledgement her death could have been prevented."

Assistant Chief Constable for Suffolk Constabulary Rob Jones said the breakdown of a number of individual mistakes "sadly contributed to a tragic outcome".

"I apologise unreservedly for the failings in the circumstances leading up to Clare's death," he said.

"I do feel the officers who responded did everything they could to provide professional and appropriate service but we made too many mistakes and we have put measures in place to prevent these mistakes happening again."

The case was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Regional director Graham Beesley said: "Our investigation, which was suspended pending the outcome of Jessop's trial for her murder, concluded in November 2021 and found that a Suffolk police officer should face management action for failing to progress the investigation sufficiently.

"We also identified various areas for improvement and will make formal learning recommendations to the force in due course."

It also "upheld the complaint about the force's interaction with the family".