Son of murdered woman slams ‘lack of accountability’
THE son of a woman killed by her neighbour in a “brutal and senseless” attack says he believes her death could have been prevented.
Christine James, 65, had her throat cut by neighbour Kris Wade, 37 in her Cardiff Bay flat – just hours before a family holiday to Florida.
Wade was jailed for 21 years for the sexually motivated attack on the grandmother who has moved to the Century Wharf flat just three months before.
Her son Jason has now slammed the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board for missing chances to stop employee wade from going on to murder.
He told ITV Wales he found “holes” in the board’s internal review system which looked into three allegations of sexual assault of patients by Kris Wade.
He added: “There’s contradictions in it, it’s full of holes. The process that the health board have used doesn’t seem to be robust.
“There’s been no accountability, or there appears to have been no accountability for the mistakes that were made.”
“The process the Health Board has used doesn’t seem to be robust. There appears to have been no accountability for the mistakes that were made.
Jason also said he can’t “get his head around” the time it took to suspend Wade.
He said: “From the point of arresting him to his conviction, it took six months. It took the health authority from the day of suspension, to the day of sacking, 37 months for that process.
“How can somebody work a murder trial in six months, but a suspension leading to a sacking, how does that take 37 months? I can’t get my head around that.”
He also paid tribute to his “kind” and “caring” mum in the emotional interview.
He added: “She loved her grandchildren dearly. They loved her back.
“Two weeks before we were down with her in Cardiff Bay and went to the Doctor Who exhibition.
“The toughest thing is trying to explain it to four small children. That was the hardest bit. “It’s very difficult, very, very difficult. In a statement, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board said: “Our Serious Incident Investigation Team, which carried out our review, did not consider that any of the issues it identified could have either predicted or prevented Mr Wade’s conduct or behaviour outside of his employment.”