Cherylee killer was ‘high risk to public’ - inquest
AWOMAN phoned police and said her convicted killer boyfriend had ‘broken her jaw’ just over two weeks before he stabbed her to death by him, an inquest has heard.
The inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of 40-year-old Rawtenstall woman, Cherylee Shennan heard that she had entered into a relationship with Paul O’Hara after he had been released on licence from prison after serving 15 years of a life sentence for the murder of a previous partner.
O’Hara stabbed to death Cherylee outside her home on Hardman Avenue on March 17, 2014, in front of police officers called to fears of domestic abuse.
O’Hara was subject to a life licence with close supervision and monitoring by the National Probation Service when he murdered Cherylee.
He stabbed to death a previous partner, Janine Waterworth in 1998.
At the start of a second week of a hearing scheduled for six weeks, a jury a six women and four men heard a full day of evidence from O’Hara’s probation officer Rosemary Heyes.
She had been O Hara’s offender manager since the final months of his prison sentence and had prepared a report for his parole hearing.
The court heard that he had reached his 15 year tariff and had ‘engaged well’ while in prison.
However, Miss Heyes said that her assessment was that at the point of release O’Hara presented ‘a high risk to the public’ and a risk matrix had calculated he had a 75 per cent chance of re-offending within a two year period.
She said: “The triggers for him would be use of alcohol and drugs which he had issues with prior to incarceration, poor thinking skills and psychological issues.”
Miss Heyes told the court that O’Hara was released from jail in April 2012 into supervised premises in Heywood, Greater Manchester, where he was tested daily for drugs and alcohol and subject to a strict curfew.
After four months he moved to independent living while continuing weekly supervision meetings with Miss Heyes.
In August 2013 he volunteered to her that he had formed a relationship with Cherylee.
Under the terms of his licence he had to disclose to Cherylee his conviction and Miss Heyes had meetings with Cherylee where she was briefed on actions to be taken should she have concerns about his behaviour.
Earlier in the hearing the court heard evidence that O’Hara had a ‘controlling’ nature and that Cherylee had told friends and relatives she had been punched and headbutted by O’Hara.
The court heard that on March 1, 2014, Cherylee contacted a domestic violence hotline saying that O’Hara had ‘broken her jaw’.
Police attended but said there were no visible injuries and Cherylee said she had made the allegations up to ‘get back’ at O’Hara as she thought he was being unfaithful.
Police recorded the incident as ‘no further action’. PROCEEDING