Serial sex offender unlawfully killed woman

The partner of a convicted sex offender with a history of drugging and sexually assaulting women was unlawfully killed, a coroner has found.

Kelly Faiers, 61, from Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, died on 15 October 2023 at the home of Richard Scatchard, 70, in Minehead, Somerset.

Despite initial suspicions, officers did not arrest Scatchard and when they returned to his home the following day, he had disappeared. He was found dead six months later in a caravan in Watchet.

An inquest into Faiers' death heard Scatchard coerced her into taking an excessive number of sleeping pills and coroner Samantha Marsh recorded an unlawful killing verdict.

Before delivering her conclusion, Marsh said Scatchard would meet women on dating websites and film or photograph sexual acts while they were unconscious.

Faiers met Scatchard on a dating website and they had been in a relationship for about six months before her death.

Marsh told the inquest at Somerset Coroner's Court that Faiers had died from a cardiac arrest, caused by a combination of sleeping tablets and alcohol, after being found unresponsive in the early hours of the morning.

"I do not believe he [Scatchard] intended her [Faiers'] death to be the result. He wanted to stupefy her so that he could have his way with her," Marsh said.

On Tuesday, the inquest was told the first uniformed officers who arrived at Scatchard's flat wanted to arrest him on suspicion of manslaughter but were advised not to by a duty detective sergeant who felt "an arrest would be a massive escalation".

The officers described being left "confused, angry and frustrated" and felt their concerns had been "dismissed".

A murder investigation was launched the day after Faiers' death, but Scatchard was not there when officers returned to his home. He then went missing and was found dead at a caravan park nearby months later.

Avon and Somerset Police has apologised for the impact of the decisions made around Kelly's death.

Speaking outside Somerset Coroners' Court, Jazz, Faiers' youngest daughter, said: "We finally feel that Kelly has received the justice that she has deserved for so long.

"In our view the ruling today does 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."

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation previously found Avon and Somerset Police had provided an "unacceptable" level of service to Faiers' family after her death.

The force previously apologised to Faiers' family after three of seven complaints made to the watchdog were upheld.

"In four of the seven areas of the family's complaint, the IOPC determined the service level was acceptable and the actions taken by Avon and Somerset Police were reasonable and/or appropriate," a spokesman said last year.

"No organisational learning for Avon and Somerset Police was identified. It did however identify areas where three officers' performance fell short of expectations and believed that these were suitable to be dealt with via the reflective review practice process."

Faiers did not know Scatchard's real identity, and the police and Probation Service did not know he was in a relationship with her.

"It is difficult to see what more police and probation services could have done within the constraints of the system at that time so they could have been aware of Kelly," the coroner said.

"I am satisfied however that had they known about her, appropriate steps would have been taken by way of disclosure and discussions to safeguard her."

Recording her conclusion, Marsh said Scatchard - who had a string of convictions for drugging and sexually assaulting women dating back to 1986 - had been "relentless" in pressuring Faiers "to do something she didn't want to do".

Texts from the days before her death showed Scatchard telling Faiers they had agreed to "compromise" and she would take six sleeping tablets when they met at the weekend - something she denied, messaging him "no, you said that".

"I hate [the] loss of control," Faiers had told him.

Marsh described Scatchard's "overall tone" in the messages as "not kind or caring, they were controlling, domineering and focussed on his sexual wants and desires with no consideration for her".

"On my assessment of evidence, this was not a relationship she was proud of," said Marsh, adding that she had not introduced Scatchard to her loved ones.

"Deep down I think Kelly knew the relationship had no future," said Marsh.

"Seeing him - a man [who was] horrible to her - as better than being alone, that is sad. She only actively intended to break it off when she started seeing someone else, suggesting she'd rather have someone than no-one."

Scatchard was convicted of drugging and assaulting four women between 1986 and 2000, the inquest heard, and was jailed for life in 2000 before being released on licence in 2013 and moving to Minehead.

Marsh described Scatchard as "devious, cunning and untruthful" and said he had kept his possession of a second mobile phone secret from the authorities.

Scatchard had not informed his probation officer about his relationship, as he was required to do.

In her findings, the coroner said there were only two people who knew what happened in Scatchard's flat, and neither was alive today.

The coroner did not make a Prevention of Future Deaths report but said she would be writing to the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police with her concerns about why Scatchard was not arrested.

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