Autistic man killed after police kicked his door down
Family of murder victim to demand answers at inquest into circumstances that led up to his death
WHEN the police checked on a vulnerable autistic man at his home it was hoped that the officers’ first thoughts would be for his safety.
But after kicking down Christopher Laskaris’s door, his family claim that the police left his home unsecured for five days, allowing a dangerous drug dealer just out of prison on licence to walk in and stab him to death.
Mr Laskaris’s killer is serving a life sentence, but now his family are fighting for answers to how and why they believe those who were meant to protect him failed him in the lead-up to his death.
A two-day inquest is due to be heard at Wakefield Coroner’s Court next week, but while West Yorkshire police and other public bodies will have the full support of a taxpayer-funded legal team, Mr Laskaris’s mother Fiona and his sister Cara are denied legal aid.
Instead the family have been forced to try to crowdfund £10,000 to pay for their legal representation.
The police deny that they left while the home was not secure. But it was boarded up with no way to open it, meaning that Mr Laskaris was forced to remove the board or sleep on the streets.
The family hope that with the right help the inquest can “shine a light” on the preventable circumstances that led to his death and stop anyone else going through a similar experience.
But they fear that the “inequality of arms” will mean that taxpayers’ money is spent “covering up failings” which will help no one.
“This is the worst thing that you can put a family through,” Cara Laskaris said. “Losing a loved one in such a horrible way you would think is the worst thing that can happen, but since then it has just got worse and worse.”
Her brother, a former pupil at Charterhouse School in Surrey, was a
“bright but very vulnerable young man” who had moved out of the family home in Surrey and was living alone more than 200 miles away in Leeds, West Yorks. He suffered from mental health crises and he and his family were battling to get specialist support, which he “tragically never received” before his death in November 2016.
It was during a moment of poor mental health that the police broke his door down to check on him. The family said: “Despite knowledge of his risk history and vulnerability, he was then left without a secure front door for five days. During this period, a violent criminal and his girlfriend wandered into Christopher’s home and began grooming and exploiting him. Because of his Asperger’s, Christopher was very trusting of everyone he met, and would have thought they were his friends. This was to have tragic consequences.”
Drug addict Philip Craig, 40, who had a long criminal record, had just been released from prison on licence and lived near Mr Laskaris’s flat when he befriended him and killed him.
Ms Laskaris said that there remained questions for the community rehabilitation team who were overseeing Craig’s release, as well as for the police and the mental health and social services teams who should have been supporting him.
“There is a huge hole in the centre of our family, and the pain will be with us for the rest of our lives,” the family said.
“We never dreamt that we would find ourselves in this position, coping with a traumatic and tragic loss, and now having to raise large sums of money to fund our legal representation through the inquest process, the sole purpose of which is to get the answers we so badly need, and justice for Christopher.”
The coroner has refused to hold an Article 2 inquest, which would have seen a jury looking at abuses of human rights and would have allowed the Laskaris family access to legal aid.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Officers gained entry to Christopher Laskaris’s property on October 8 after receiving a call of concern over an ongoing incident and stayed at the property until it was secured.
“He was a vulnerable adult who was deliberately targeted by Philip Craig, a known drug dealer and drug user.
“Our thoughts remain with Christopher’s family. Due to the pending inquest, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”