Mum wants answers to Conner’s murder
A GRIEVING mother has spoken of her continuing battle to hold the probation services to account for the mistakes she blames for her son’s death.
Two years ago, in March 2015, 18-ear-old Conner Marshall was killed at Trecco Bay caravan park in a savage attack by a known criminal who was on probation.
Now his mother Nadine has given an emotional interview to Welsh-language current affairs programme Y Byd ar Bedwar (The World on Four) saying she is not satisfied with the answers she has received from the private firm running the probation services.
Killer David Braddon, 28, from Caerphilly, had been under two separate orders for community supervision following previous offences when he murdered Conner, from Barry, at Trecco Bay in Porthcawl.
Nadine and her husband Richard, from Barry, used a crowdfunding website to raise more than £6,000 to start a legal battle for more answers.
Braddon had never met her son when, high on valium and alcohol, he battered the teenager before leaving him for dead.
Nadine still recalls the moment she was told her son had been attacked.
“I was expecting him back early. But there was a knock on the door earlier than I expected. It was eight o’clock and I expected to see Conner, but it was the police.”
She added: “I remember seeing Conner and not even recognising him.
“He was just a mess. I remember praying, shouting at Conner, shaking him, pleading with him. I could deal with any situation as long as he woke up. As long as he was OK. But that moment never came.”
Braddon was being monitored by the Wales Community Rehabilitation Company, part of Working Links.
A report into the firm’s handling of Braddon found he had missed eight appointments he should have attended as part of his community order. Two of those were “acceptable” – with a valid reason – and six weren’t.
It also says Braddon was issued with several “final warning” letters and was threatened with being sent back to court for breaching his order, but that never happened.
The report also mentioned that some previous offences may not have been considered when his initial risk assessment was formed.
Braddon had previously been convicted of assaulting a police officer and had also been involved in domestic abuse and animal welfare offences.
The report also states his offender manager “described feeling ‘overwhelmed’ with inheriting case [sic] that required action and training as a new PSO. She described being allocated 18-20 cases in one day”.
However, it concluded that “no one could have foreseen that David Braddon would go on to commit such an offence”.
Nadine, who pressed until she was given a copy of the full document by Andrew Selous, then a minister in the Ministry of Justice, believes that the firm did not fulfil its responsibilities.
She said: “That report made 10 recommendations. But when you read through them, they’re so straightforward and basic.
“I just feel if those basic things aren’t being done as a matter of course, how do you keep control of these offenders?
“I think there were several clear points when David Braddon should have been reassessed and given a much stronger risk assessment than he had. That in itself could have meant that Conner was still with us.”
Lawyers working on behalf of the Marshall family are now preparing to make an application for a second inquest into Conner’s death.
Nadine hopes this will help force answers from the Government and Working Links, as well as an apology for mistakes she believes led to her son’s murder.
In a statement, a Working Links spokesman said: “Serious further offences are rare but each one is taken extremely seriously and investigated fully.
“All decisions were made and supervised by fully qualified and experienced probation workers.
“Public protection is our top priority and it is our job to help move people away from crime, and we strive continuously to improve the quality of the services that we provide.
“However, not all individuals desist from further offences. The person responsible for this crime is now convicted and serving his sentence. The management of the case has not been linked to the crime committed – the serious further offence report found that Conner’s death was not predictable or preventable.”