Multi-agency recommendations and action plan in response to the Serious Case Review into the murder of Steven Hoskin

Introduction

Since its inauguration in December 2005, the APC for Cornwall has worked to embed best professional practice across all agencies working with vulnerable adults. We have implemented a clear business plan, revised pre-existing multi-agency procedures, implemented new and additional adult protection training, developed performance monitoring systems and introduced a Serious Case Review protocol. The level of funding available to implement adult protection across all agencies (just over £500k per annum) is far higher in Cornwall than many places elsewhere nationally and we have agreed that only the most senior officers from statutory agencies, as well as most senior representatives from the voluntary and independent sectors, sit as Members of the APC. Uniquely to our best knowledge, we have implemented a “local escalation policy” whereby any agency working with vulnerable adults judged by the independent Adult Protection Unit as not implementing its adult protection responsibilities sufficiently well is called to the APC to give evidence.

Despite all of these actions, the findings of this Serious Case Review into the murder of Steven Hoskin reveal weaknesses across each of the agencies in contact with him and those responsible for his abuse and murder.

The APC shares the public and personal sense of shock and abhorrence that has surrounded Mr Hoskin’s murder. It is the job of this Committee to ensure that the Serious Case Review’s findings are considered in full. It is our job to implement purposeful and positive action designed to minimise the likelihood of such an event from ever happening again.

Our recommendations and actions are devoted to the memory of Steven Hoskin. They reveal our determination to learn all of the lessons arising from the Serious Case Review and are underpinned by our collective resolve to deliver the very best multi-agency adult protection practice found anywhere.

Read the full Report (PDF).

Getting Away With Murder

In 2000 a couple with learning difficulties were held hostage in their home over a weekend. They were both sexually assaulted, the man was forced to eat faeces, was cut 40 times and his partner was also attacked. Their children witnessed the attacks. The couple now have post-traumatic stress syndrome.

In March 2005 Keith Philpott, who had learning difficulties, was falsely accused of being a paedophile, tortured, disembowelled and stabbed to death in his own home.

In July 2007 Christine Lakinski, a disabled woman, collapsed in a doorway on her way home. As she lay dying a man threw a bucket of water over her, covered her in shaving foam and urinated on her. One of his friends filmed the incident on a mobile phone.

In May 2006 Raymond Atherton, a 40 year old man with learning difficulties, was severely beaten, had bleach poured over him and was thrown in the River Mersey, where his body was later found by police. His attackers were people he considered his friends.

Nicola Barnaby, who has chronic anxiety, endured seven years of physical and verbal abuse from tenants in her council flat. When she reported being pushed and called a ‘mad schizo’ the police did nothing to intervene.

In October 2006, a wheelchair-user, Craig Robins, sustained a brain-injury in an attack after he confronted people he thought were responsible for repeated vandalism to his adapted car.

Kevin Davies, who had epilepsy, was kidnapped and held captive in a garden shed for four months before he died in September 2006. He was fed scraps, brutally tortured and his money was stolen. Again, he considered his captors friends.

In April 2007 Colin Greenwood, a blind father with young children, was kicked to death by two teenagers. Before his murder Mr Greenwood had stopped using his white stick in public for fear of being targeted.

In August 2007 Brent Martin, a young man with learning difficulties, was viciously attacked and murdered for a five pound bet. Before his death his three attackers partially stripped him, chased him through the streets and subjected him to a sustained attack in four different locations.

Read the full PDF Report from Scope, Disability Now and the United Kingdom’s Disabled Peoples’ Council (UKDPC)