Two murdered after warnings were missed

TERRIFIED Rachael Slack spent two years telling authorities her ex-partner was a danger to her and their son.

But numerous warnings were not acted upon and Andrew Cairns, 44, was free to kill her and their 23-month-old son Auden.

In the weeks before the 2010 tragedy, in which Cairns also took his own life, he was arrested for making threats to murder 38-year-old Rachael.

He was bailed and the artist, pregnant with a second child by her new partner, was judged to be at “high risk” of being murdered.

But police did not tell her. And social workers also failed to make a key referral.

Her devastated sister-in-law Melony backed our calls for better training for professionals to spot the signs of domestic abuse.

ISOLATED

And she warned that kids are at just as much risk as adults. Melony said: “We want to raise the status of child victims of domestic abuse because it’s been a taboo subject.

“Rachael was a strong, independent, intelligent woman. We think she was embarrassed to tell us everything. She was being kept in her own isolated little cocoon. If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone.

“Rachael told us she was scared of what Andrew might do. But Auden’s case got buried in a tangled web of communications between different agencies who weren’t talking and didn’t understand the severity of the problem.

“If there is domestic violence in the home, children are at risk too.

It’s a no-brainer.”

MURDERED Victoria, eight