A death of a woman who was raped and murdered could have been prevented according to a report from the coroner
Elizabeth Sarah Jayne McCann was strangled at the flat of Simon Gould in Ashton under Lyne in August 2022
In a Prevention of Future Deaths report by the coroner for South Manchester Alison Mutch it was revealed that her murderer was on a life licence at the time and on the Sex Offenders Register as a consequence of his convictions in 2009 for rape, sexual assault and Section 20 assault.
He had met Elizabeth through the Health and Wellbeing College run by Pennine Care.
Whilst he was on licence, he had been signposted by Probation to the Wellbeing College run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.
The victim met her killer while they were both enrolled at the Health and Wellbeing College, run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, which catered for people with mental health difficulties.
The College and Probation had previously agreed the college would accept some Probation clients.
The Coroner concluded that there was a failure by the college and Probation to set up a clear, documented system for how this would work and how risk would be managed.
Within the college there was a failure to ensure that there was a system for how this information from Probation would be received and scrutinised effectively.
There was a failure by the college to set up a risk management system for attendees such as him.
As a consequence of these failures her murderer joined the college without any risk assessment having been undertaken and without the college recognising the risk he posed.
It is probable that had there been an effective system in operation that: either he would not have been accepted at the college at all or would not have been accepted without a stringent plan to manage his risk, these failures by the college and Probation probably contributed to Elizabeth’s death.
The coroner also criticised Greater Manchester Police after the murderer disclosed to Probation that he had met a woman and believed it would develop into an intimate relationship.
The information was shared that day with Greater Manchester Police.
There was a failure by Greater Manchester Police and Probation to action that information. In addition, the officer working for Greater Manchester Police who was spoken to failed to appropriately record the information. This was probably due to the excessive workload in the unit against the staff numbers.
A month before the murder he approached a woman he had met at college at a public house in Ashton.
He was under the influence of alcohol. He touched her and tried to kiss her without her consent.
She reported the incident to the college Senior Management team because she was very concerned about the incident.
The college Senior Manager failed to recognise it was a safeguarding issue and spoke to him informally.
On 18th August 2022 she made it clear to him that she did not want a relationship with him.
The coroner concluded that it was probable that had there not been a failure to share the July 2022 incident which was caused by the previous failures Elizabeth McCann would not have died on the day she did.
