The chief constable of Lincolnshire Police has said the force has ‘more work to do’ in how it deals with domestic abuse after a judicial inquiry found it had missed opportunities to save a 23-year-old’s life.
Following a two-week hearing at Lincoln Coroner’s Court into the death of Daniela Esperito Santo, a jury delivered an ‘unlawful killing verdict’.
A statement from the jury said that Lincolnshire Police had ‘missed opportunities to safeguard Daniela and her children’ following her death from heart failure which came after twice being assaulted by her partner Julio Jesus while he was out on bail.
“There was a failure to carry out a full investigation of all the available evidence,” the statement continued as reported by LincsOnline.
“If these actions had been carried out then the former partner on balance (of probabilities) would have remained in custody.”
Ms Santo (pictured above), who lived in Grantham, died on April 9, 2020.
The inquest heard of numerous incidents of abuse were reported with regards to Jesus’ treatment of Ms Santo.
Chief Constable Paul Gibson said: “Following the conclusion of the inquest into the death of Daniela Espirito Santo, our thoughts are with her, and her family and friends – in particular, her two children.
“We would like to thank the jury and the Senior Coroner for their thorough and detailed work and we would like to pay tribute to the dignity of Daniela’s mother and stepfather.
“As the jury has found, Daniela was unlawfully killed.
“The jury have identified that Lincolnshire Police could have done more in our interactions with Daniela, and with her then-partner.
“We apologise to Daniela’s children, her family and her friends for the suffering they have endured since her death, and for where we could have done more.
“There is more work to be done in our prevention of and response to domestic abuse, along with the changes already made and we can speak about those later.
“We send our sincere condolences to Daniela’s family and friends.”
