Police sorry for blunders that left chef free to murder
‘Jekyll and Hyde character’ fatally attacked girlfriend but was never charged and went on to kill again
CHIEF REPORTER A SERIES of police blunders allowed a chef with a history of domestic violence to remain free to murder his girlfriend five years after he killed a previous partner.
Robert Trigg was only brought to justice after a campaign by the elderly parents of Susan Nicholson forced police to reopen both cases. Last night police finally apologised.
Trigg was convicted yesterday of the murder of Miss Nicholson, 52, who was found dead in 2011, and the manslaughter in 2006 of Caroline Devlin, 35.
In the four months leading up to Miss Nicholson’s murder, officers had been called to the flat they shared six times. Just two days before her murder, he had been cautioned for punching her in the face.
Despite the violence that included beating another girlfriend “to a pulp” in 2003, in which Trigg himself called police warning officers: “I’m going to kill her. You need to arrest me,” Sussex police ruled out foul play.
Miss Nicholson’s family, however, refused to believe her death was an accident and hired a senior pathologist and a lawyer to re-examine the deaths.
Miss Nicholson’s parents, Peter and Elizabeth Skelton, who are in their 80s, said Sussex Police had failed to investi- gate the murder properly. Mr Skelton said: “They should have done more. Their first investigation wasn’t up to standard. It got us down a bit. My wife had a mild heart attack.”
The couple said that for years police ignored their pleas to re-investigate.
Brandyn Mckenna, Miss Devlin’s youngest son, said: “Finally we have justice after 11 years. As a family we can put some closure to this. We’ve always said it is down to the Skelton family.”
The death of Miss Devlin, a motherof-four, was originally recorded as the result of an aneurysm. Dr Nathanial Cary, a pathologist, who re-examined the evidence, found her death was caused by a blow to the back of her head.
Trigg, of Park Crescent, Worthing, West Sussex, had claimed he accidentally suffocated Miss Nicholson by rolling on top of her on the sofa as they slept. Police treated him as a bereaved partner rather than a suspect.
But Ms Nicholson’s parents were suspicious from the outset, not only because of his violent past but also as the sofa was too small for a couple to sleep on. Dr Cary found she had been deliberately suffocated by having her head forced on to the sofa.
The trial at Lewes Crown Court heard both women suffered violence at the hands of Trigg during their relationships. After one outburst, Ms Devlin “prophetically” told a friend: “I won’t be here for my 40th.”
Trigg was described in court as “possessive, controlling and jealous” and by one former girlfriend as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who drank heavily. Similarities between the deaths were highlighted during the trial, including the revelation that Trigg failed to dial 999 in either case. Trigg, who faces life in jail, will be sentenced today.
Det Supt Tanya Jones, of Sussex Police, said: “Sussex Police is sorry that it had not presented all the facts before the CPS previously but we have now thoroughly investigated both cases.”