Bethany Vincent: The mum killed by her abuser and the missed opportunities to save her

An investigation by ITV Calendar News has found that 18 women in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have been killed by men who were previously reported to police for domestic abuse in the last five years.

Among them was Bethany Vincent, who died along with her son, DJ, after being attacked in Louth, Lincolnshire.

Reporter Amelia Beckett spoke to Bethany's mother, Caroline.

"He'd been eight years in prison and we didn't know any of it until after the event."

Three years after her daughter's death, Bethany Vincent's mother, Caroline, is still struggling to come to terms with the fact that opportunities to prevent what happened were missed.

"[I feel] totally and utterly let down," she says. "You can't imagine... the anger."

Bethany, who was 26, and her son, nine-year-old Darren "DJ" Henson, were stabbed to death by Bethany's ex-partner Daniel Boulton at their home in Louth, Lincolnshire, on 31 May 2021.

Boulton, who was 29 at the time, was abusive towards Bethany during their relationship. He was the subject of restraining orders banning him from being in contact with her when he carried out the attack.

But he had a violent history and a criminal past which had, largely, been kept from the family until it was too late.

Caroline Vincent believes her daughter - who she described as a "great mum" - and her grandson would still be alive if the authorities had fulfilled their responsibilities.

She said: "His list [of offending] should have been in front of a judge on that last restraining order.

"To be given a slap on the hand and just [told] 'don't go near her' - that means nothing to someone who has been stalking someone and is obsessed with someone."

The details of the attack on Bethany and DJ by Daniel Boulton are almost impossible to comprehend.

During his relationship with her he had been controlling and manipulative of Bethany and had developed an irrational hatred and resentment of DJ, who had autism.

He blamed DJ for problems in the relationship, even claiming that DJ "picked on him".

In the days before 31 May, despite two restraining orders, Boulton bombarded Bethany with around 900 messages, some of them threatening.

The day before the murders he sent her a chilling message which read "nightmare on Holme Street".

He then walked 28 miles from a hostel in Skegness to Bethany and DJ's home at High Holme Road.

He loitered outside for several hours before stabbing them repeatedly.

He then went on the run and later stabbed an off-duty officer who tried to detain him before being arrested on farmland on the outskirts of Louth 24 hours later.

In court he admitted manslaughter but denied murder on the grounds he was suffering from a dissocial personality disorder that substantially impaired his ability to exercise self-control.

A jury dismissed that claim and found him guilty of murder. In 2022 Boulton was jailed for life with a minimum term of 40 years.

An investigation by ITV Calendar has found that Bethany was one of at least 18 women killed by a partner, ex-partner or family member between 2019 and 2023 who were already known to police. 

At least 15 of those women had gone to the police themselves. At least four of the men were on bail at the time they committed the offence.

Risks 'secondary' to killer's mental health

A domestic homicide review carried out after the deaths of Bethany and DJ found that the risk Boulton posed to his victims "was underestimated by professionals throughout".

He had a long history of offending, including thefts and handling stolen goods. From 2009, his offending "became much more violent", the review said.

He had two convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and robbery, for which he received a "substantial" prison sentence, and further convictions for public disorder and racially aggravated harassment.

He had moved to Lincolnshire from Derbyshire in early 2019, shortly after a conviction for a domestic assault on a former partner.

During that incident he had pushed the woman against a wall and threatened her with a knife, and also injured a pet bird.

The report detailed how Boulton had a long history of involvement with mental health services and had been referred to a community mental health team by his GP in January 2020.

He continued to see professionals over the course of the next few months.

In November of the same year Bethany reported that she had been assaulted by him, which he admitted. He was not charged, but bailed with conditions not to contact her.

Less than three weeks later he was arrested after Bethany called police to say he had assaulted both her and her mother.

She told police at the time that he had told her he would "come back for you and your family" if he was arrested and said: "If anything happens I'll come for you."

Boulton was again bailed.

There were several other incidents involving police, and Boulton repeatedly breached orders banning him from contacting Bethany, but the review concluded there was too much focus on Boulton's own mental health needs.

It said: "Opportunities to have addressed a more thorough understanding of the perpetrator’s risk towards Bethany and DJ became secondary to the perceptions of the needs of the mental health of the perpetrator and he manipulated this to his advantage.

"The panel agrees that they were intrinsic to the overall picture, but those needs became the primary driver and not the numerous warning signs for safeguarding."

It added that he had shown signs of coercion and control towards Miss Vincent but "those signs were missed".

The report said: "What is unequivocal is that the lines of communication between agencies were not sufficient to fully understand the risks involved."

Lincolnshire Police said the case was "one of the most tragic and devastating cases we have seen in Lincolnshire and our deepest sympathy is with the family".

The force told ITV Calendar it had taken a number of steps to improve its handling of domestic abuse cases.

It said it had:

• Increased its use of domestic violence protection notices since 2021

• Trained more than 1,000 employees to recognised the signs of abuse since April 2022

• Introduced "domestic abuse champions" who provide enhanced expertise and promote good practice

• Improved recording processes for sexual assault reports

• Brought in a system for identifying patterns of risk for repeat perpetrators

• Started work with a victims' group to improve services

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