Student's rape and murder 'could have been prevented'

INFORMATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHARED ON SEX OFFENDER

- DAMON WILKINSON

THE rape and murder of a vulnerable student by a convicted sex offender could have been prevented without police staff shortages and high probation service caseloads, a coroner has said.

Elizabeth McCann, 26, was strangled to death by Simon Goold, 52, in his bedsit at a B&B in Ashton-under-Lyne, in August 2022.

A Prevention of Future Deaths report said if information had been shared on the increased risk Goold posed to women, it is 'probable' Elizabeth would not have died.

An inquest heard that Goold, who was on life licence having been convicted of rape, sexual assault and wounding in 2010, had befriended Elizabeth, from Hyde, at the Health and Wellbeing college in Ashton, where they both studied.

Police knew Goold 'posed a risk in certain circumstances' particularly around 'alcohol use, lone females, intimacy and rejection: But the killer was allowed to join the college, which catered for people with mental health issues, without any risk assessments being done.