Murdered woman pleaded for help day before her death

A woman who was stabbed to death by her boyfriend asked healthcare workers for help the day before her death, an inquiry has heard.

Joanne Gallacher, 33, contacted an NHS mental health unit, requesting that her boyfriend James Kennedy, 37, be hospitalised but no action was taken.

A senior charge nurse said he could not discuss Kennedy's treatment without his permission.

Kennedy stabbed Ms Gallacher 57 times at his home in Biggar, Lanarkshire, in December 2018.

A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) at Hamilton Sheriff Court heard how senior charge nurse Paul Thomson, 49, had assessed Kennedy in June 2018 and deemed he was not psychotic or suicidal.

The inquiry heard that medical staff were later banned from entering Kennedy's property after a home visit found blood on the front door and weapons inside including two knives, a claw hammer and an axe.

Giving evidence to the inquiry, Mr Thomson said: "There was a phone call received from Joanne Gallacher who said she had concerns about James Kennedy and she demanded that he be sectioned.

"That wouldn't be a decision that could be taken by us but the last time we had seen him it wasn't felt there was a need to do that and get a consultant to do it because he wasn't psychotic or suicidal so there wasn't that requirement."

He added: “I had no consent to share any information from James Kennedy. If he had been there I could have spoken to him and if he had given consent then I could have shared information.”

The inquiry heard how social workers had made home visits to Kennedy unaware that NHS staff had been banned from seeing him due to the risks and that a meeting between social workers, the NHS and police to discuss him took place days before he killed Joanne.

When asked if he had disclosed a risk of violence from Kennedy to Ms Gallacher in the phone call they had, Mr Thomson said: "No. I was not aware of any risk to Joanne."

Describing the decision to ban NHS staff from visiting Kennedy at home, Mr Thomson added: "We would see him in the health centre, just not in the home environment due to the risk of violence and weapons inside the home."

The nurse told the probe he was left shocked when Kennedy killed Ms Gallacher.

"I was surprised by that because the interaction that I had had with him previously, I thought he was more of a risk to himself or staff because he was very derogatory about health staff," he said.

"He was ok in June with us but there were other notes that he had been a bit derogatory to staff which was highlighted in the phone call I had with Joanne in December.

"I had not seen him for six months by this point."

The inquiry earlier heard how Kennedy believed that Ms Gallacher was planning to harm him and that he was sleeping rough in woods in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.

Ms Gallacher's mother Louise, 62, told the probe they had made plans to go Christmas shopping but the next time she saw her daughter was in a morgue.

Kennedy is being held in the State Hospital at Carstairs after admitting culpable homicide due to diminished responsibility at the High Court in Glasgow in 2019.

The hearing, before Sheriff Michael Higgins, continues.