The family of Michaela Hall, who was murdered by her partner five years ago, has launched a legal challenge against Devon and Cornwall police and the Probation Service over failings that could have prevented her death. Lee Kendall, a serial violent offender, is serving a minimum 21-year sentence for stabbing Hall through the eye at her home in Truro, Cornwall on 1 June 2021.
An inquest and police watchdog investigation revealed a string of errors, including Kendall being wrongly assessed as “medium risk” by the Probation Service despite previous assaults on Hall, and police receiving 34 pieces of intelligence about his domestic abuse. On 31 May 2021, officers failed to enter Hall’s home after a Crimestoppers call from a friend who reported she was being strangled. One officer was recorded saying: “What can you do? She doesn’t help herself.”
Shaun Hall, who was 13 at the time of the murder, said in his first public statement: “The police and Probation Service were aware of my mum’s situation… They made too many mistakes and did not take her situation seriously enough, which led to her death.” He hopes the case will prevent similar deaths.
Hall’s father, Peter, 74, found her body after three police visits failed to enter the property. He said officers were 20 minutes late due to a communication error and should have entered when they arrived. “Why didn’t the police just do their job?” he asked, adding that a statement from Michaela about Kendall strangling her was written on scrap paper and never given to the Probation Service.
Cat Knight, a solicitor at the Good Law Project representing the family, said: “The criminal justice system is failing women… It’s time for the police and Probation Service to treat domestic abuse as a threat to life.” Devon and Cornwall police said no actions were attributable to her death, and the Ministry of Justice said it is investing up to £700m in probation by 2028.
