Multiple failures over rapist who went on to kill
INQUEST FINDS POLICE, PROBATION SERVICE AND NHS TRUST AT FAULT
MULTIPLE failures by police, probation services and an NHS trust allowed a convicted rapist to enrol at a college where he befriended a vulnerable young woman he later murdered, an inquest has found.
Simon Goold, 52, was jailed for life in February 2023, after he raped then strangled Elizabeth McCann, 26, a fellow student at the Health and Wellbeing college in Ashton-under-Lyne.
It was known that Goold, who had been convicted of rape, sexual assault and wounding in 2010, posed a danger to ‘lone women’ in ‘certain circumstances.’ But despite that he was allowed to join the college without a risk assessment taking place.
That ‘probably’ contributed to Ms McCann’s death, senior coroner Alison Mutch said. Probation and police also failed to act upon a number of warning signs, including Goold informing them he had had a ‘small relapse’ with alcohol and an admission that a woman he hoped to become ‘intimate’ with had decided not to pursue the relationship.
But police and probation ‘failed to exhibit any professional curiosity,’ probably due to their ‘large workloads,’ wrote Ms Mutch. “It is possible that this lack of action by Greater Manchester Police and probation contributed to Elizabeth’s death,” she added.
The inquest also heard the college, which is run by NHS mental health trust Pennine Care, and probation had failed to set up an ‘effective referral system’ to manage ‘high risk’ students.
An incident in a pub in Ashton in July 2022, where Goold tried to kiss Ms
McCann’s friend Gaynor Hammerton, a volunteer at the college, was not recognised as ‘high risk’ by the college.
That meant the college’s senior manager failed to inform probation services and instead dealt with it ‘informally.’
Ms Mutch wrote: “As a consequence [Goold] continued at the college and probation were unaware of these events and no action was taken by them. It is probable that had there not been a failure to share the July 2022 incident which was caused by the previous failures Elizabeth McCann would not have died on the day she did.”
Ms Mutch recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing.
Dr Simon Sandhu, medical director at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We fully accept the conclusion of the coroner who found that significant failings at the college probably contributed to her death. We are now commissioning an independent review of the college which will consider all the findings from the inquest. We are truly sorry that we failed to have systems and processes in place that could have protected Elizabeth.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “We have taken steps to address the issues identified in the report and inquest. In light of the coroner’s findings, we will further review our next steps to ensure we have taken any action needed to keep the public safe.”
A GMP spokesperson said: “We respect the findings made by the coroner around case handling and offender management. A full review has taken place to ensure that we continue to make further improvements in these areas.”