Lisa Skidmore: Murder victim's family demand answers as inquiry moves closer

A full inquiry into the death of 37-year-old Lisa Skidmore, who was strangled in her Bilston home by Leroy Campbell after he climbed through her bedroom window, will provisionally start on November 19.

It is yet to be decided whether Campbell, a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of similar offences, will be called to attend.

The investigation, expected to take at least two weeks, will look into potential errors by the police and probation service following the 57-year-old killer’s release from prison.

Warning

Campbell had warned a probation officer six weeks before Ms Skidmore’s murder that feelings he had experienced before previous sex attacks had returned.

She reported this to Wolverhampton Police, who visited him several times until he said he no longer needed their help.

But at a preliminary hearing in Oldbury, the Skidmore family requested that the inquiry go back further to question the parole board’s decision in 2014 to move Campbell to an open prison and in 2016 to release him.

“The parole board decision should be looked at in great detail – we say this is where the chain of causation starts,” said Sarah Hemingway, representing the family, who also want the prison service to be investigated for alleged failures.

Submissions were made by the Skidmore family, West Midlands Police and the Ministry of Justice into what form the inquest should take.

All three parties also voiced their views on whether Campbell should be allowed to attend, and whether a jury was required for the inquest.

Persuasive

Adjourning the hearing to consider his decision, Black Country coroner Zafar Siddique described the family’s submissions regarding the scope of the inquest as ‘very persuasive.’

A second pre-inquest hearing will take place in September.

In the interim the coroner will write to the parole board and prison service inviting them to respond to the request from the Skidmore family.

West Midland’s Police supported the family’s view that both organisations should be included within the inquiry’s remit.

Mr Siddique will also contact Campbell and his legal representatives but said he would be making it clear that the inquest was not another trial and that his role was not the central purpose of the inquiry.

He revealed he had already written to the prisoner but ‘regrettably’ had received no response.

“If he does turn up, he will have a limited, if any, role,” he added.

Interested party

Mr Bilal Rawat, for the Ministry of Justice, said Campbell met the statutory definition of an ‘interested party’ in the proceedings and, as such, would be entitled to the same treatment as other interested parties ‘but that would have to be managed.’

The coroner will also rule on whether Fry Housing Trust, which provided Campbell with accommodation in Moseley, Birmingham, on his release from prison, should give evidence to the hearing.

He confirmed it would be an Article 2-style inquest, held when public bodies have ‘failed to protect the deceased against a human threat or other risk’, which have a wider reach than a public inquiry.

The hearing was attended by the victim’s mother, 81-year-old Margaret Skidmore, and siblings Alison Parker, Joyce Skidmore and Jim Skidmore.

Campbell was handed a whole life sentence last year for his ‘grotesque’ deeds, which included attempting to murder Mrs Skidmore and setting fire to her daughter’s house.

The inquest will coincide with the second anniversary of Ms Skidmore’s death.

It was on November 24, 2016, four months after his release from a 16-year ‘public protection’ prison term, that Campbell used a step ladder to climb through his victim’s first-floor bedroom window in Mill Croft, while she was off work sick, and raped and strangled her.

When her mother called at the house two hours later, he tried to strangle her with the vacuum cleaner lead before setting fire to the house.