Botched police inquiry ‘did not contribute’ to woman’s tragic death
ABOTCHED police investigation into an alleged rapist who went on to murder a vulnerable woman ‘did not make any contribution’ to her death, a coroner has ruled.
Lee Nolan had been on bail for more than a year over unrelated allegations of rape and making threats to kill when he murdered Katelyn Parker in August 2015.
Nolan strangled Katelyn, 24, who had learning difficulties, with her hair-straighteners at her home in Milnrow, after she called him ‘gay’ and then put her body in the boot of his car.
In February 2016, dadof-four Nolan, then 48, was jailed for life and ordered to serve a mini- mum sentence years.
Later that year the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) - now the Independent Office for Police of 18 Conduct (IOPC) - identified ‘significant failings’ by Greater Manchester Police and Kent Police when they investigated Nolan. The IPCC found that an allegation that Nolan had made threats to kill was never progressed as there was ‘confusion’ over which force would deal with the complaint, which was made in July 2014 more than a year before he murdered Katelyn.
A further allegation of rape suffered ‘severe delays and poor communication with the victim’.
Two detectives, one from Kent Police and one from GMP, were given ‘management action’ for failing to progress the investigations and failing to obtain evidence for the CPS ‘in an appropriate time frame’, the report ruled.
Coroner Catherine McKenna recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing following an inquest into Katelyn’s death. Ms McKenna highlighted several failures by both GMP and Kent Police, but found they did not contribute to Katelyn’s murder.
She said: “Between 10.18am and 1pm on August 13, 2015, Katelyn Parker was strangled to death with the cable from her hair straighteners at her home address, Upper Stone Drive in Milnrow, Rochdale.
Her body was discovered on August 14, 2015 in the boot of a car parked on Claybank Street in Heywood.
“Thirteen months earlier, the individual who was convicted of her murder, had been arrested by Kent Constabulary for the offence of making threats to kill.
“The investigation into the threats to kill was not appropriately progressed initially due to a failure in communication between Greater Manchester Police and Kent Constabulary and subsequently a lack of understanding on the part of officers of Greater Manchester Police of custody time limits, a lack of investigatory rigour and a failure by Greater Manchester Police to take ownership of the investigation.
“These failings have been admitted on the part of both police forces, but did not make any contribution to Katelyn Parker’s death.”