Family’s plea over Natasha’s death
THE family of a young woman who was stabbed to death by her boyfriend say they hope mistakes made by officials are ‘never repeated.’ Natasha Wild, 23, was killed by Lloyd Brackenbury. There were warning signs about Lloyd, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, that police and mental health teams had failed to act on.
A jury concluded that those failings could have contributed to her death at their home in Syke, Rochdale. In October 2017, when he was 32, Lloyd was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Manchester Crown Court and was ordered to be detained in a psychiatric hospital. He was cleared of murder.
At an eight-day inquest into Natasha’s death at Heywood Coroner’s Court, a jury concluded that Natasha died as a result of unlawful killing.
Natasha’s family, in a statement after the hearing, said: “The jury found that some of the failings by Pennine Care, Rochdale and the police may have contributed to Natasha’s death. We welcome the changes made to the policies and practices of the organisations involved in her inquest.”
Police said:“The service provided by our officers was not acceptable and for this we deeply apologise.”
Dr Henry Ticehurst, medical director for Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have already implemented a significant number of operational improvements and changes.”
Sally McIvor, for Rochdale council, said: “A significant number of operational changes and improvements have been made.”