British mother kills handicapped daughter, self after years of harrassments

[Syt]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Suicide-Mother-Fiona-Pilkington-And-Daughter-Francecca-Under-Siege-At-Home-By-Youths/Article/200909415394348?lpos=UK_News_First_UK_News_Article_Teaser_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15394348_Suicide_Mother_Fiona_Pilkington_And_Daughter_Francecca_Under_Siege_At_Home_By_Youths

The Suicide Mother Abandoned To Bullies

A baying mob routinely surrounded the home of Fiona Pilkington.

She cowered inside with her disabled teenage daughter Francecca and son Anthony, desperate for help.

For more than a decade, the 38-year-old single mother endured stone-throwing youths who would shout obscenities, assault her children and leave the family under siege at their home in Barwell, Leicestershire.

They even suffered death threats.

Anthony, now 19, was locked in a shed at knifepoint and beaten with a metal bar.

Francecca was constantly taunted because of her disabilities. She was incontinent and couldn't be left unattended.

Stones were thrown at her bedroom window as she went to bed, along with shouts demanding that she lift up her nightdress. Yobs mimicked the way she walked.

Their mother was described as shy, timid and vulnerable.

One youth would stand outside the house and shout:" We can do anything we like and you can't do anything about it."

Repeated calls to the police came to nothing. On one occasion Ms Pilkington was told to close the curtains and ignore the children.

Another time an officer said she was 'over reacting.'

No prosecutions were ever brought.

In seven years, she made 33 calls to the police, 13 in the last year of her life.

Her final cry for help was on the day she decided she could take no more.

She drove herself and Francecca to a lay-by not far from their home, doused the inside of the car in petrol and set it alight. The car exploded and they were burnt beyond recognition.

The pair had to be identified by DNA samples taken from relatives.

At the inquest into their deaths at Loughborough Town Hall, Assistant Deputy Coroner Olivia Davison asked why common sense and basic old fashioned policing had not come to their aid.

The jury at the inquest found that the police's failure to respond to the family's pleas for help contributed to their deaths.

Chris Tew, a former assistant chief constable of Leicestershire Police, said the biggest problem had been the failure to link the incidents and to realise that they were prompted by the family's disabilities.

Many of the incidents were not classed as crimes but as anti-social behaviour.

After the deaths, police changed their policy so that repeated crimes against disabled people were marked as "hate crimes" and given greater priority.

He defended the lack of any prosecutions saying Ms Pilkington was not prepared to pursue her complaints through the courts. She feared reprisals.

Mr Tew informed the inquest that the force was training more officers to spot vulnerable people who were either physically or mentally disabled.

"This family was patently vulnerable to the eye, you don't need training," said Ms Davison.

Fiona Pilkington and her daughter left behind grieving relatives, a police force under fire for failing them and issues which go far beyond a guilt ridden community in Leicestershire.

[Martinus]

Not sure if the mother was fully mentally stable; probably the harassment was not of the type that would push an average person to a suicide/infanticide. Still quite a shitty situation - the problem is to what extent this can be avoided? I imagine the police have to deal with more situations like this and it is often a difficult call which to investigate and which to write off as an overreaction.

[Barrister]

The thing is you have to take your victim as you find them.  The fact some other people might not have taken it this strongly doesn't mean the police should ignore it.

I would have thought further police investigation would be warranted.  It sounds like a textbook case of Criminal Harassment to me. 

[Martinus]

The thing is you have to take your victim as you find them.  The fact some other people might not have taken it this strongly doesn't mean the police should ignore it.

I would have thought further police investigation would be warranted.  It sounds like a textbook case of Criminal Harassment to me. 

Yeah. My point was that the police probably do not have enough resources to deal with all cases of this type (I am not talking about an investigation now, of course, but at the time she was making complaints) so some sort of a judgement call needs to be applied to separate cases of "overreaction" from a genuine threat. The problem with any judgement call is that it is sometimes wrong - but that doesn't necessarily mean the system itself is wrong (although it could also mean that).

The thing, especially in this day and age of media attention, is that sometimes whatever you do, you are blamed. In different circumstances the same kind of story could be reported as "Police harass local youths based on exaggerated complaints from a crazy local lady."

[HisMajestyBOB]

If she was going to kill herself, she should've taken some of the bastards with her.

[Razgovory]

What is with Europeans?

[Razgovory]

Also what's a "Yob"?

[DisturbedPervert]

Not sure if the mother was fully mentally stable

Having your house surrounded for 7 years by a baying mob armed with knives and metal bars will do that to you

[Faeelin]

Not sure if the mother was fully mentally stable

Having your house surrounded for 7 years by a baying mob armed with knives and metal bars will do that to you

I am trying to figure out how the police wouldn't have the resources to deal with years of this, by I presume the same parties.

[Malthus]

Someone willing to kill themselves and their daughter in such a manner is likely not in the pink of mental health, which may have resulted in presenting herself to the cops in such a manner as to give the impression she was bullshitting.

This doesn't excuse the neglect, but it may well be the explaination for it.

[garbon]

Yeah. My point was that the police probably do not have enough resources to deal with all cases of this type (I am not talking about an investigation now, of course, but at the time she was making complaints) so some sort of a judgement call needs to be applied to separate cases of "overreaction" from a genuine threat. The problem with any judgement call is that it is sometimes wrong - but that doesn't necessarily mean the system itself is wrong (although it could also mean that).

The thing, especially in this day and age of media attention, is that sometimes whatever you do, you are blamed. In different circumstances the same kind of story could be reported as "Police harass local youths based on exaggerated complaints from a crazy local lady."

While I agree, would you be singing the tune if it were people being harassed because they were gay?

[lustindarkness]

shitty situation, in AL this would not have happened:
the bullies would have all be shot the second time they showed up, the mother would be in prison for it and the disabled teen would be in some shitty state run nursing home.

[KRonn]

Not sure if the mother was fully mentally stable

Having your house surrounded for 7 years by a baying mob armed with knives and metal bars will do that to you

I am trying to figure out how the police wouldn't have the resources to deal with years of this, by I presume the same parties.

Really?! WTF?!? 

So nothing could be done by parents of the thug minded kids, nor the police, nor anything done as this went on for years? And who are the deranged wackos of the local neighborhood who feel so compelled to harass defenseless people, including a young girl?   

[Martinus]

Yeah. My point was that the police probably do not have enough resources to deal with all cases of this type (I am not talking about an investigation now, of course, but at the time she was making complaints) so some sort of a judgement call needs to be applied to separate cases of "overreaction" from a genuine threat. The problem with any judgement call is that it is sometimes wrong - but that doesn't necessarily mean the system itself is wrong (although it could also mean that).

The thing, especially in this day and age of media attention, is that sometimes whatever you do, you are blamed. In different circumstances the same kind of story could be reported as "Police harass local youths based on exaggerated complaints from a crazy local lady."

While I agree, would you be singing the tune if it were people being harassed because they were gay?

[Habbaku]

Also what's a "Yob"?

Jaron's last bout of employment.