'No justice' only one man held to account for killing of Portadown pensioners

A coroner has found that the deaths of a retired couple who were killed by a man with severe mental health issues were “entirely preventable” if police and health care workers had dealt differently with him in several interactions in the days leading up to the fatal incident. Marjorie and Michael Cawdery, both 83, were stabbed to death at their home in Portadown, Co Armagh, on May 26, 2017. Paranoid schizophrenic Thomas Scott McEntee, who is now aged in his mid-40s, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was given a life sentence in June the following year.

Charles Little, the couple's son-in-law, said mechanisms should be in place to hold organisations accountable for their failings in cases such as this. He described their deaths as "brutal and shocking".

“I still believe there is no justice when only the ill man is held accountable. “As you heard, there was a raft of areas and things which went wrong. “I am asking the Victims of Crime Commissioner to push for a review of corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, all the relevant legislation to take forward and see if there can be reviews of that legislation which can accommodate situations like this and hold people and hold organisations to account. “The coroner found it to be entirely preventable, it should not have happened, it should never have happened.”

The coroner identified four incidents prior to the killings when McEntee had been displaying signs of mental illness and was involved in interactions with either police or health care staff.

The first was in Belfast city centre and then the Mater hospital in the city on May 22, the second was at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry on May 24, the third was the following day in Warrenpoint, Co Down, and fourthly on May 26 at both Daisy Hill Hospital and Craigavon Area Hospital.

McEntee, who was from Kilkeel, Co Down, ultimately absconded from Craigavon Area Hospital and broke into the Cawderys’ home on nearby Upper Ramone Park when they were out shopping.

When they returned to their house, he was still in the property and he killed them.

The coroner raised particular concern about a police failure to use powers available to them under mental health legislation to take McEntee to a place of safety when they encountered him in the days prior to the killings.

Ms Dougan also said she was not satisfied that all the lessons from the incident had been learned by the PSNI and Belfast and Southern health trusts.

Concluding her lengthy findings, coroner Marie Dougan said: “I find on the balance of probabilities that the deaths of Michael and Marjorie Cowdery on the 26th of May 2017 in their own home were entirely preventable.” She added: “On all the evidence before me there was a succession of omissions and missed opportunities emanating from poor communication, a lack of informed and effective decision-making on the part of police officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland and staff in the Belfast trust and Southern trust in their contact, care and treatment of Mr McEntee. “These omissions and missed opportunities, whilst analysed individually may not be considered grave, the combination had devastating consequences. “I find that had these opportunities not been missed, the course of events would have been different and would have changed the outcome.”

Coroner Marie Dougan said the inquest was the most “complex and difficult”, both emotionally and evidentially, she had ever presided over.

She expressed concerns that lessons had not been sufficiently learned and said she would be sending her findings and recommendations to the PSNI and Stormont’s Department of Health for consideration.

“I commend the large body of work that has been taken forward by the PSNI and the health and social care trusts to date,” she said.

“The litmus test for lessons learned is what would PSNI officers and trust staff do now when faced with the same situation?

“Sitting here today, on the written and oral evidence before me, I cannot be satisfied and, as acknowledged by some witnesses to the inquest, that some of the failings which have been identified would not occur again.

“More needs to be done. My hope is that the tragic loss of Michael and Marjorie Cawdery continues to serve as a catalyst for collective and sustained change in the recognition and treatment of people in mental health crisis, thus ensuring that no family continues to endure the pain that the Cawdery family carries.”

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