LESSONS have been learned following the death of a Barnsley woman who was plied with booze, raped and later died of a liver failure as a result of an overdose.
The complex case is contained in the Safeguarding Adults Board annual report for 2016/17 published by the council about cases that did not meet the threshold for formal reviews by the board.
The woman, who is identified as 'Adult 2' in the report, died of liver failure as a result of an overdose although it says it was unclear if she had intended to take her own life. Her death was considered as a possible domestic homicide review which is carried out when a death has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by a relative, by someone they were or had been in an intimate personal relationship with, or a member of the same household.
However, it was agreed that as the overdose did not appear to be linked to her abusive relationship it did not meet the criteria for a domestic homicide review. The report sheds light on the harrowing background of the case before going on to say what lessons were learned, recommendations made and actions put in place.
It states: "Her oldest daughter spent significant time with her mum and regularly reported concerns to the police about the violence her mum experienced from her male partner.
"The police visited Adult 2 several times but were unable to secure her agreement to press charges against her partner or to accept offers of help via domestic abuse services.
"Male friends visited Adult 2 and plied her with alcohol and then raped her. The police attended but were unable to persuade Adult 2 to make a complaint.
"Later that day, Adult 2 took a large number of pain killers and continued to drink alcohol - she disclosed this to her partner when he returned home, however he did not take any action to obtain medical help. Three days later he called an ambulance when he discovered Adult 2 vomiting blood, he did not tell the ambulance staff about the tablets she had taken and did not travel to the hospital with her.
"The hospital obtained this information after admission, via a telephone call to him."
A group made up of different agencies looked at the case and identified areas for further examination. This included the quality of risk assessments and the narrow focus of these not taking account of the wider context of the situation; whether information was shared in a timely way to prevent harm and respond to the needs of Adult 2 and her oldest daughter.
It also highlighted as to whether the Mental Capacity Act was used appropriately as Adult 2 was often under the influence of alcohol and drugs and whether workers are able to complete high quality domestic abuse risk assessments and make necessary referrals.
A set of actions were agreed which included all agencies to review information sharing systems and advice provided to workers when working with families affected by domestic violence; review screening by the Central Referral Unit within South Yorkshire Police and the 'Person Posing a Risk' process to see if it is robust within Barnsley.
It was also agreed to examine the role of the Public Service Hub in addressing domestic abuse cases that don't meet thresholds and embed knowledge of and use of Meghan's Law.
