Shaun Hall, who was 13 when his mother Michaela was murdered by her abusive partner, has said there were multiple chances missed to save her. Shaun watched his mother being physically and mentally abused by her partner of two years, Lee Kendall, before she was stabbed in the eye with a kitchen knife in 2021.
Shaun, now 18, has spoken out five years after her death to criticise police and other authorities involved in her case, saying they had continuously let her down.
Missed Opportunities and Failings
Shaun said he was shielded from much of the terror inflicted on his mother by Kendall during their brief relationship. Michaela had moved him out of the family home in Mount Hawke, Cornwall, seven months before her death for his own safety. She was killed when he was aged just 13 after Kendall stabbed her during a row over a meal she made for him.
Shaun is now suing the police and probation service over missed opportunities. These include officers attending Michaela's home on the night of her death leaving the scene saying she "doesn't help herself", and Kendall's long history of offending. Kendall was well known to police and had 47 previous convictions across 78 offences. Authorities had recorded 16 assaults by him against Hall.
Kendall had only been released from prison for assaulting her two weeks before the fatal attack but moved back in with her after being wrongly classified as just a "medium risk". This was after the probation report failed to include details of his previous violent behaviour against her, including an incident where he had strangled her.
Shaun's Account of the Night of the Murder
Shaun said: "The night she was killed police came to the house but did nothing. The police said she 'didn't help herself'. How can you say that to a victim of domestic abuse? She was trapped in the relationship and wanted help. Yet they just left her there without doing anything - and hours later she was dead."
Truro Crown Court had previously heard how Kendall had drunk five bottles of wine and became angry over a dinner that "he didn't want" before he stabbed her to death in the bedroom on May 31, 2021. He was jailed for life and told he would serve a minimum 21 years.
Speaking for the first time about his mother's murder, Shaun said there had been numerous call-outs to the home over the abuse, but on the night of the murder police saw no sign of a disturbance and left. Body-worn camera footage recorded one of the officers talking to the police control room, saying how they had visions of "her lying there with him covering her mouth". She was found dead by her father, Shaun's granddad Peter Hall, the following evening. During that time police attended two further times but did not enter. Michaela's mother then called police for a welfare check but police did not attend so they went to the house themselves.
Call for Change and Legal Action
At an inquest held in 2024, coroner Andrew Cox said there had been "shortcomings and errors" by probation services before her death. Shaun, who now lives with his grandparents near Redruth, Cornwall, said: "I was only 13 at the time so I'm only just been learning what happened. But I understand the situation a lot better now and want to speak out now I'm 18. I need to raise awareness to stop a repeat of this happening to anyone else."
Michaela's dad Peter Hall, 74, said the case had proved the probation service was "not fit for purpose." He added: "It was catastrophic. The mistakes meant he was released as a medium risk with everything that went with that. He should have clearly been a high risk and therefore under much more scrutiny when he was released."
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said Hall's murder was a "horrific crime" but it would be "inappropriate to comment on live legal proceedings". Jim Colwell, Deputy Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall Police, said the force "immediately addressed recommendations made by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)". He added: "We recognised some areas of learning in formal admissions within the inquest which have been implemented, and this work continues."
Cat Knight, solicitor at GLP, said: "With one woman killed in the UK every three days, Michaela's tragedy is all too common. The criminal justice system is failing women and putting them in danger. It's time for the police and probation service to treat domestic abuse as a threat to life and tackle it with the urgency it demands."
