Janet begged for ‘a clean break’ from killer partner
COUNCIL WORKER TRIED TO HELP HER BUT BOYFRIEND RAN THEM DOWN
A COUNCIL worker has told an inquest how he tried to unroll bandages to help a stabbed mum-of-six before her ex-partner ploughed his car into both of them.
Lidl supermarket worker Janet Scott, from Arnold, was left with “catastrophic injuries”, according to coroner Jonathan Straw who has opened the eight-day inquest at Nottingham Council House yesterday
– almost three years after Mrs Scott, 51, was killed in Peel Street on January 29, 2018.
She was stabbed in the chest at home before being driven to the city centre by former partner Simon Mellors, 56.
Mellors – a convicted murderer after killing his previous partner Pearl Black, 36, in 1999 – was released on licence in 2014 and later struck up a relationship with Mrs Scott.
The inquest will look at the role of the probation service in managing Mellors.
The inquest heard that community protection officer Fahad Ashfaq was working a day shift when he was approached by a “distraught” woman.
He described Mrs Scott as “in distress and frightened” and that she told him “she had been stabbed”.
He noticed two stab wounds, before Mrs Scott pointed to the attacker standing by his Volkswagen Golf in a North Sherwood Street car park.
Mr Ashfaq said: “I saw she was soaked in blood, and as she spoke to me she pointed to a male at the other side of North Sherwood Street who was responsible. I had a clear view of the male.
“He got into the vehicle and I took a picture of him on my mobile phone. He saw me doing this. I saw the male drive away, out of the car park and leave.
“I called the police and the ambulance service. I remember pulling out a bandage (from my first aid box) to put over the wound.
“I started to unroll the bandage and never looked behind me.
“I do not recall anything else until
I woke up in hospital. I must have blacked out.”
He described being in “excruciating” pain around his head and neck; his arm had been broken and he had suffered some spinal injuries.
He then learned the woman had died.
“The last thing I remember is being stood next to her and holding a bandage in my hand and trying to protect her,” he said.
Mellors ploughed his car into them, sending Mr Ashfaq flying into the air and instantly killing Mrs Scott.
The pathologist said Mrs Scott died as a result of multiple injuries.
Footage shown to the court showed the last moments of Mrs Scott’s life, as she held on to the wall in distress as Mellors drove at speed towards her.
The car was stuck between a wall and a tree following the impact.
Police arrived and Mellors was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre and later arrested with the murder of Mrs Scott and attempted murder of Mr Ashfaq.
The coroner said Mrs Scott had been in a nine-month relationship with Mellors but it was “a fatal attraction”.
He never faced the charges put before him. He took his own life at HMP Strangeways in Manchester, the following month.
DC Ian Holmes, who led the investigation, said Mellors remained “mute” throughout the two interviews.
Mellors had returned to Mrs Scott’s Nursery Road home after her son left for work around 9.25am on the day she died.
It is believed he spent around 30 minutes there and attacked her in her bedroom before driving three miles to North Sherwood Street. At 10.20am officers arrived at the crime scene in Peel Street. The investigation also searched Mellors’ house and Mrs Scott’s home, where they found evidence of an attack in her bedroom. DC Holmes said: “I don’t know how they got into the car (together) but I don’t recall there being blood in the vehicle but she was attacked at the Nursery Road address.” Text messages revealed that Mellors had followed Mrs Scott to work one morning. She wrote: “I have told him (probation) the truth you scared me Simon – you made me scared for my life.”
On January 27, Mellors pleaded with Mrs Scott to “still be friends” and that he “cared too much to walk away”.
But she replied: “I can’t. I need a clean break. No way back please. When you bring the rest of my things we say goodbye.”
She threatened to contact the police if his behaviour continued.
But he carried on texting her, showing concerns that she had reunited with her estranged husband. “I have been made to look a fool again,” he wrote to a third party.
The night before the killing he told her: “I have nothing to live for if you go. I have hope while you are still here.”
DC Holmes said that Mellors had shown signs of stalking and control, adding: “He did not appear to take no for an answer. My opinion fits into ‘he wanted control.’”
Mrs Scott’s family described her as “having great passion” and “a magnetic personality”.
They said: “She would be there for weddings, birthdays, Christmas or just to talk to. It is the small things you take for granted that you remember the most.”
The inquest continues.
You scared me, Simon – you made me scared for my life
Text message from Janet Scott to Simon Mellors