Psychotic man ‘ferociously’ killed hotel worker when unmedicated, coroner rules
Marta Elena Vento, 27, was working at a Travelodge in Bournemouth when she was killed by Stephen Cole in a brutal attack in 2020.
The family of a hotel worker who was killed by a man suffering from psychosis said their daughter had “paid with her life for lapses in the English prison and policing systems”.
Spanish national Marta Elena Vento, 27, was working at the Travelodge in Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, when she was killed by Stephen Cole, who repeatedly punched, kicked and attacked her with a set of hair clippers on December 9, 2020.
Cole, then 32, who had been released from prison in October that year, pleaded guilty to manslaughter through diminished responsibility and has been detained indefinitely in hospital under the Mental Health Act.
Sentencing him at Winchester Crown Court in June 2021, Judge Angela Morris highlighted “irreversible failures” by those who did not spot his deteriorating psychiatric state in the weeks beforehand.
At the conclusion of the inquest into Ms Elena Vento’s death on Friday, senior coroner Rachael Griffin ruled Cole unlawfully killed the 27-year-old, and was unmedicated at the time of the attack due to prison failures to plan his mental health care after his release and police failures to manage him as a registered sex offender.
In a statement read out by the family’s lawyer Benjamin Burrows after the inquest, they said: “Today’s conclusion confirms what we have suspected in the four long years since our dear Marta was torn from our lives.
“It is overwhelmingly hard for us to understand how the English prison health system could allow someone like Stephen Cole, who was so clearly unwell, to be released without a care plan and the ongoing medication he needed. It is equally hard for us to understand why the English police did not make themselves fully aware of the danger Cole posed when he stayed at the Travelodge on that night.
“Our daughter paid with her life for lapses in the English prison and policing systems. The cost to our family can never be measured. Without our Marta, our lives will never be the same.”
The hearing was previously told of a report from pathologist Basil Purdue that said Ms Elena Vento’s cause of death was multiple blunt force head injuries, with 55 injuries recorded in a post-mortem examination.
It added that appearances suggested Ms Elena Vento “put up a most spirited defence against her assailant”.
Ms Elena Vento, described as “gentle natured, yet strong and tenacious” by her family, had been living in Bournemouth where she had adopted a kitten and, after a few months of unemployment during the pandemic, took a job at the Travelodge, which was just across the street from her home.
The inquest, held over 21 days at Bournemouth Coroner’s Court, previously heard Cole was a resident at the Travelodge at the time and CCTV from the early hours of the morning recorded Cole kicking and punching Ms Elena Vento after she had been sorting leaflets in a display near the door.
Detective Inspector Mark Jenkins of Dorset Police previously told the inquest Cole arrived in the bar area of the hotel at 5.12am and began to attack Ms Elena Vento.
Cole left at 5.58am, and went to Bournemouth police station later that morning where he told the receptionist he had just killed someone.
Cole had been a remand prisoner at HMP Winchester between July and October 2020.
At the time, the healthcare provider at the prison was Practice Plus Group, which accepted it had failed to discharge Cole to his GP following his release.
The hearing was told his release had been unexpected as he was given a suspended sentence at a court hearing after being convicted of indecent exposure on October 27.
The inquest has heard Cole had been prescribed the antipsychotic drug Olanzapine in September 2020 while he was in prison, which had managed his symptoms.
Prior to being on medication, Cole had assaulted four people at HMP Winchester, including two prison officers.
Cole left the prison with 28 days’ worth of his antipsychotic medication but this ran out on November 24, the coroner ruled, which led to a relapse in his psychosis.
He had been living at Russel Court Hotel in Bath Road, Bournemouth, after being released from prison but was evicted after he attacked two residents and two members of security on December 4 2020.
Cole then moved into the Travelodge less than mile away.
There had been “no continuity of care” after Cole left prison, which was an “arguable system failure”, Ms Griffin said.
As a registered sex offender, Cole’s risk was supposed to be managed by Dorset Police, following national guidance.
The coroner ruled there was incomplete information gathering by police to identify, manage and assess the risks Cole posed in the time between his release from prison and Ms Elena Vento’s death, and that this was “an arguable breach of systemic duty” by Dorset Police.
Ms Griffin confirmed she will be writing a prevention of future deaths report to the prison service, NHS England, the College of Policing, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and NHS Dorset to address concerns raised in the inquest.
The coroner spoke in Spanish to offer her condolences to Ms Elena Vento’s family and said: “No-one in this room can imagine what you have suffered.
“Marta was and remains in our memory a bright, strong and brave young woman who lived her life to the fullest.
“I regret from the depths of my heart your loss and the suffering experienced since Marta left us.”
