Anger over 'evil' handyman left free to kill two women

Family say mother of four 'should have been warned' about former partner who had been implicated in two stabbings.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

A grieving family have revealed police missed a string of chances to stop an “evil and controlling” handyman who murdered two women in just 16 months.

Carl Cooper, 66, was branded a danger to women as he was jailed for 35 years for murdering former partners Naomi Hunte, 41, and Fiona Holm, 48, whose body has never been found. Both women had reported Cooper to the police for domestic abuse before they were killed.

In their first interview about the case, Ms Holm’s heartbroken family hit out at the Met for not stopping the abusive killer sooner and failing to alert the mother of four about his violent past.

Under the “right to know” section of Clare’s Law – also known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme – officers are allowed to disclose information about an abuser’s history if they fear for a new partner’s safety. But in a report this month, police inspectors found the Met is failing to make proper use of the law and is only making 3.3 disclosures per 100,000 people under the right to know scheme – far below the national average of 17.5.

The domestic abuse charity Refuge slammed the “woefully low” figures, adding: “This is consistent with what we hear from many domestic abuse survivors, as well as in Domestic Homicide Reviews, and begs the question, why aren’t women being supported when they report their abusers and disclose concerns, especially if their perpetrator is already known to the police?

“We need to see police forces acting earlier, listening to women’s voices and taking their concerns seriously, enacting vital safety planning to protect them. The focus needs to be on prevention, not issuing apologies when it’s too late.”

In a series of damning developments in the Cooper double murder case, The Independent can reveal:

• An anonymous 999 caller reported Cooper for murdering a woman around the time Fiona Holm disappeared – but police wrongly classed it as a hoax