Probation had concerns over scrambler yob months before woman killed

The inquest into the death of Rebecca Cooke continued today

Concerns have been raised over a “lack of engagement” between a thug and the probation service before a young woman was killed.

Rebecca Cooke had been taking a lunchtime walk near her home on Court Hey Road in Huyton on March 1, 2021 when she was hit by a scrambler yob. An inquest into the 26-year-old’s death previously heard that her injuries were “un-survivable” after she was thrown into a nearby wall.

Daniel King was seen speeding before turning a corner and swerving onto the pavement to avoid an oncoming police car. As he mounted the pavement he crashed into Ms Cooke, who suffered “catastrophic” injuries. Tragically, Rebecca died from her injuries on March 3, at the Walton Centre.

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Ms Cooke’s inquest continued on Thursday, January 25 at Sefton coroner’s court. Concerns had previously been raised over a lack of engagement with King who had warrants out for his arrest dating back from June 2020 for driving whilst disqualified in North Wales and failing to appear before crown court in Preston, as senior coroner Julie Goulding said it would be important to look at what action was or should have been taken.

On Wednesday, Amanda Hamilton, then interchange manager for Merseyside CRC, said there “should’ve been some contact” with King and the probation service as an offender on licence but there had not been due to a number of factors including staff sickness. Admitting the “system wasn’t working” during the pandemic, she added they were trying “our best with the resources we had”.

The inquest heard how King committed an offence in 2020 within a few weeks of release from prison and there was limited engagement with probation until March 2021. He had also been arrested in Preston for Burglary, failed to attend court and breached his electronic monitored curfew.

At the hearing on Thursday, Head of operations for the North West probation service, John Quick, spoke about the “significant changes” that are in place now, from managing staff sickness to more having more staff involved.

He told the hearing that “since unification, there’s been a lot of new staff coming into the organisation” and regular reviews are undertaken within the probation service. Stressing the importance of home visits, he added these are “being driven through the whole of the organisation.”

The hearing heard how there have been “developments” in frameworks to give a “more reflective view” to an offender’s circumstances. Ms Goulding raised concerns that previously, concerns in King’s case were “not escalated” and relevant information not passed over.

The coroner added that during the time King was offending, there was “a lot of information held by just one person” as Mr Quick added they are “still reliant on individual practitioners to be notified of a change in circumstances”. Ms Goulding asked would King be reduced from weekly to monthly visits without discussion now, but Mr Quick added: “It shouldn’t happen without discussion.

“If you are reducing contact, you’re indicating a change in circumstances. That should always prompt a discussion with a senior probation officer.”

The hearing also heard that probation decisions are “based on risk”, and “poor engagement in itself is an indicator risk of reoffending is escalated.” Mr Quick said: “It’s something we would want to address.”

He added multiple appearances in court and warrants issued, like in King’s case, was “certainly something we take into consideration when looking at recall”.

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