KILLING: FAMILY BLAST REVIEW
PROBE WILL LOOK AT WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE DIFFERENTLY
A REVIEW into the death of a mother-of-six who was killed by a convicted murderer while he was out on licence is set to be published by spring next year.
Supermarket worker Janet Scott, 51, from Arnold, was stabbed and then “mown down” by a car in Peel Street on the morning of January 29.
Simon Mellors, 56, formerly of North Sherwood Street, was responsible for her death. She had ended a relationship with him.
The Home Office said the review would not seek to “lay blame” but would “consider what happened and what could have been done differently”.
Janet’s brother-in-law, Keith Thomson, 60, from Carlton, who married Janet’s sister, said: “The review is too little too late, but it might prevent the same thing happening again.
“If they were able to do their job and were any good at it this review would not have to happen.
“The reality is Janet is dead and she did not have to be. The system has failed her.”
Mellors had a history of violence after being released on licence after beating and strangling his previous partner, Pearl Black, 36, to death at her Bramcote home in 1999.
It happened while her two young daughters slept next door.
Her brother George, 57, warned the parole board Mellors would strike again when he was released on licence from prison.
The grieving family of Mrs Scott said that Janet had warned the probation service that Mellors had stalked her, even days before her murder. Mellors took his own life in February while in Strangeways Prison, Manchester, before he could face justice in court.
The independent review will take into account “agency involvement” with the victim and perpetrator leading up to the death.
This week, a chairman has been appointed to conduct the review after agencies including the probation service and the police prepared evidence.
Gedling Borough Council, which is coordinating the review on behalf of the Community Safety Partnership, conformed that a chairman has been appointed.
Once evidence has been heard and collated, the review will be passed on to Janet’s family before being sent to the Home Office and before its publication.