A coroner has concluded that Kelly Faiers, 61, was unlawfully killed after being coerced into taking an excessive amount of sleeping pills by her partner, Richard Scatchard. The ruling follows an inquest into Ms Faiers' death, which occurred on 15 October 2023 at Mr Scatchard's home in Minehead, Somerset. The inquest heard that Mr Scatchard, a convicted sex offender with a history of drugging and sexually assaulting women, had pressured Ms Faiers into taking the medication.
Coroner Samantha Marsh stated that Ms Faiers died from a cardiac arrest, brought on by a combination of sleeping tablets and alcohol. While Ms Marsh did not believe Mr Scatchard intended Ms Faiers' death, she concluded his aim was to 'stupefy her so that he could have his way with her.' Mr Scatchard, 70, had met Ms Faiers on a dating website, and they had been in a relationship for approximately six months prior to her death.
The inquest also highlighted significant concerns regarding the initial police response. Uniformed officers who first arrived at Mr Scatchard's flat wanted to arrest him on suspicion of manslaughter but were reportedly advised against it by a duty detective sergeant, who felt an arrest would be a 'massive escalation.' These officers described feeling 'confused, angry and frustrated' and believed their concerns were dismissed. A murder investigation was launched the day after Ms Faiers' death, but Mr Scatchard had already disappeared. He was found dead six months later in a caravan in Watchet.
Avon and Somerset Police have since apologised for the impact of decisions made around Ms Faiers' death. An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation previously found that the force had provided an 'unacceptable' level of service to Ms Faiers' family in certain aspects following her death. Three of seven complaints made by the family to the watchdog were upheld, though no organisational learning for the force was identified, with issues instead attributed to the performance of three individual officers.
Ms Faiers' youngest daughter, Jazz, speaking outside Somerset Coroner's Court, expressed that the family finally felt Ms Faiers had received the justice she deserved. However, she added that the ruling did not 'vindicate the failings of the police and probation service for the monitoring of the person we believe to be responsible for Kelly's death, or Avon and Somerset Police's failure to arrest and preserve evidence at the time of Kelly's death.' The coroner acknowledged the difficulty for police and probation services to have been aware of Ms Faiers' relationship with Mr Scatchard, as she did not know his real identity and the services were not informed of their connection.