September
9 September - (Julia‘s eleventh and final consultation with GP since September 2002) the GP recorded
„improving, slow legal process, house on market next week, keen to return to work, seen by occupational health see again 2 months‟263
10 September - the GP wrote to Alan‘s company expressing optimism about Alan‘s ability to return to work in the medium to long term.264
11 September - Alan - went on holiday with a friend to California until 28 September.265
18September - the GP wrote for the second time to Alan‘s company confirming that Alan was unfit to work during the period of sick certification for short periods or part time.266
26 September - the psychiatrist wrote to the GP advising that he was no longer seeing Alan and had no contact from him since the end of July.267
28 September - Alan retuned from holiday; the friend who had accompanied Alan on holiday was sufficiently concerned to telephone Julia to alert her about his behaviour whilst on holiday.268 At the Inquest C14 said that Alan had been a lot quieter on his return from holiday, had not slept well, getting up in the night, had stomach pains and indigestion.269
263 Berkshire West PCT IMR
264 GP Information to PDHR
265 C5 information to PDHR
266 GP Information to PDHR
267 Consultant psychiatrist information to PDHR
268 C17 information to PDHR
October
1 October - C19 went up to Cambridge. As Julia‘s car was too small C17 took C19, William and Julia in her car. It had been anticipated that Alan would arrive independently but he did not do so.270
3 October - C8 received a handwritten note from Alan in which he referred to the death threat he had made to Julia in September 2002:
„In total desperation I resorted to my final resort of threatening to kill her…I am desperately trying to keep my sanity, if only to get through the court case [reference Alan‘s company]in March 2004.‟
Alan also emailed a letter to C8 in which he referred to his feelings about his marriage to Julia and what he alleged to be her lies concerning their relationship and events since September 2002. He referred to the arrangements for C19 going up to Cambridge and his anger towards Julia in relation to them; the contents of her Affidavits and the proposed financial divorce settlement. 271
5 October - the DVC returned from sick leave.
9, 10 and 11 October - Alan and C8 exchanged emails. C8 asked Alan to consider how much his behaviour was upsetting William and C19. In his last email to C8 Alan stated:
„Sadly putting my anger behind me is not yet possible because of its severity. Things will only ever start to recover if and when Julie starts retracting the lies [reference to allegations of sexual abuse].‟272
13 October - William‘s seventeenth birthday.
270 C17 Information to PDHR
271 C8 Information to PDHR
272 C8 Information to PDHR
14 October - William‘s first driving lesson. Alan did not come to the door, but contacted William by mobile phone to say he was outside, then parked his car on the drive and used C19‘s car for the driving lesson.273
21 October - papers which Alan sent to C8 that arrived posthumously included a cheque for
£10,000.00 which had been made out on 21 October.
21 October - William had a driving lesson and meal with Alan.274
28 October - C17 visited Julia; William had a driving lesson with Alan.275 November
1 November - Julia told C12 that William had said to her „Mum I do not know why we bother with dad, he is going to kill us anyway.‟ Whilst working on financial papers for the court hearing Julia and C12 discovered that large sums of money had been withdrawn by Alan.276 Julia asked C5 why Alan was disposing of all his assets and C5 said that he thought it was so he could make a financial claim against Julia.‘277
4 November - Alan was seen by a partner at the GP practice;
„Anxiety with depression. No real benefit from medication. Now drinking a bottle of wine a night-given advice. Not coping/emotional liability, stay off work, and to see again in 3 weeks.‟278
8 November - Alan wrote to Julia [approximately 10 days before 18/11/03] asking her to retract her allegations about sexual abuse and gave her a deadline by which to make contact with him:
273 C17 Information to PDHR
274 C1 Letter to PDHR
275 C17 Information to PDHR
276 C12 Information to PDHR
277 C5 Information to PDHR
„Please have the decency to respond -I‟m sure you don‟t want to talk but please send me a text message or get William to do so. If I do not hear from you by the end of the weekend I will accept the current situation will have to stand.‟
Following receipt of the letter Julia reminded her brother, C5 that she was convinced Alan would kill her ‗I just want to remind you that Alan is coming for me‟ C5 replied that he thought Alan would not do it while he (C5) was alive.279
11 November - William had a driving lesson with Alan; his school friend visited as usual and was dropped off at his father‘s house in Newbury by Alan and William.
14 November - Julia showed the letter from Alan to C17 and said she could not let him do it to her. C17 and Julia had a good evening together and Julia left in a good mood.280
Julia sent copy of Alan‘s letter to her solicitor where it arrived posthumously.
When later that evening C8 brought William back home with his son who was staying the night at Old Hallowes, Julia showed him Alan‘s letter.281
15 and 16 November - Alan gave two cars to C14 (one of which a Caterham had a personalised number plate W111 PEM) and gave her £2,500 in expenses as he had not been contributing to the running of her house.282
16 November - Julia told C8 and C17 that Alan alleged there were some irregularities in the planning permission. As the house was in her name and being sold Julia was very worried she had somehow broken the law.283 C4 checked with a local authority planning office and on the information he provided was advised there ought not to be a planning issue and the matter could be resolved by an exchange of letters with the relevant planning authority. C4 relayed the information to Julia the same day.
279 C5 Statement (1) to PDHR
280 C17 Information to PDHR
281 C8 Information to PDHR
282 C14 Evidence at Inquest
283 C18 & C17 Information to PDHR
17 November - Julia went to the planning office with C17.284 Analysis of Agency Intervention
(a) Thames Valley Police
During this period there was no contact with the police.
(b) Berkshire West PCT
10.1 In September Julia had her last consultation with the GP who noted that she was improving and considering returning to work.
10.2 In this period Alan had no direct contact with the two professionals with whom he had consulted between May and July. The GP informed us that he had discussed Alan‘s presentation with his GP colleagues in the event that whilst he was on leave Alan made contact with the practice.
10.3 The psychiatrist wrote to the GP to inform him that Alan was no longer seeing him.
(c) West Berkshire Council
During this period Julia did not contact the school or any other council service.
Panel’s overall conclusions September 1- November 17 2003 The panel have concluded that:
10.4 TVP had no further opportunity to intervene positively during this period. There were no new specific incidents which might have caused Julia to seek further support from TVP.
10.5 There is some evidence that after the Hearing in July, with Alan’s agreement to sell the house and his move to Herefordshire, Julia felt there was the potential for her life to go forward. There is limited evidence of interaction between Alan and Julia apart from disagreement over arrangements for C19 to go up to Cambridge. At the same time there is evidence that Julia continued to believe that Alan posed a very real threat to her.
10.6 The content of Alan’s letter to Julia in November was ambiguous. Julia did not tell the police about the letter but sent this to her solicitor. She told C5 that she was convinced that Alan would kill her.
10.7 During the weeks after his return from holiday Alan’s anger about what he referred to as Julia’s allegations persisted. In much the same way as he had tried to use William to influence Julia, at this point he tried unsuccessfully to use C8 in a similar way.
10.8 We do not know the circumstances in early November that had caused William to say to Julia, with reference to wondering why they bothered with his father that he thought his father would kill them anyway; but this highlights the impact of the overall situation on William.
Learning for the Future – 2008 onwards For All:
Victims, their children, family and friends should be encouraged to report all concerns about safety to police/other agencies and the information should be recorded (covered by guidance and also note advice facility on National Domestic Violence Helpline.
11. November 18 and 19, 2003