The family of Michaela Hall, who was murdered by her partner five years ago, has launched a legal challenge over failings by the police and probation service that could have prevented her death.
Lee Kendall, a serial violent offender, is serving a 21-year minimum sentence for stabbing Hall through the eye at her home in Truro, Cornwall on 1 June 2021. An inquest and a police watchdog investigation into the handling of the murder revealed a string of errors by public agencies that contributed to her death.
On the fifth anniversary of Hall’s murder, her family has announced it is bringing a claim against Devon and Cornwall police and the Probation Service that they failed her right to life and right to be protected under the Human Rights Act.
The Good Law Project (GLP), which is acting for the family, will focus on Kendall being wrongly assessed as “medium risk” by the Probation Service, despite being convicted for two previous assaults on Hall and the police receiving 34 pieces of intelligence about his domestic abuse against her.
The case will also question why police officers failed to enter her home despite a Crimestoppers call on 31 May 2021 from a friend that raised the alarm Hall was being strangled. As they drove away from the property, one of the officers was recorded saying: “What can you do? She doesn’t help herself.”
Shaun Hall, who was 13 when his mother was murdered, said he hoped the case would prevent similar deaths by known domestic abusers.
In his first public statement on her death, he said: “My mum was a victim of domestic abuse, which led to her murder by her partner. The police and Probation Service were aware of my mum’s situation. A dispute would have happened and then the police would show up. Quite a few times they came over and they were too late and it just made things worse.”
In an Instagram video recorded for GLP, he said: ‘They made too many mistakes and did not take her situation seriously enough, which led to her death. If these mistakes hadn’t been made, then my mum could still be here today. All of this happened when I was younger. Now that I’m 18, I want to tell my mum’s story and help prevent this happening to other families.”
A 2022 investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct found the police response was “unacceptable”. The reviewer said: “In view of the incident reported and the serious history of domestic abuse, the officers in my view ought to have done more.”
In 2024 a coroner found Hall’s murder was “entirely foreseeable” and could have been prevented.
Hall’s father, Peter, 74, a retired engineer, found her body at home after three visits by the police when they had failed to enter the property. He said the police had never provided a explanation or apology for why they did not enter Michaela’s house despite being warned she was in danger.
He said: “The police were 20 minutes later than they should have been when they first arrived at Michaela’s house due a communication error. But Michaela could well have been alive when they arrived. The police officer who left the scene actually said she could be in there with his hand over her mouth. They failed to protect her.
“Why didn’t the police just do their job? Their attitude was: ‘This is just a silly woman living with a violent guy and she deserves all she can get.’”
He pointed out that Michaela had previously told the police Kendall had tried to strangle her. “That statement was written by a policeman on a piece of scrap paper and it was never presented to the Probation Service. That on its own was enough to make him high risk.
“The Probation Service should never have let this guy out of prison.”
Cat Knight, a solicitor at GLP, said: “The criminal justice system is failing women and putting them in danger. It’s time for the police and Probation Service to treat domestic abuse as a threat to life and tackle it with the urgency it demands.”
Devon and Cornwall police have been approached for comment. After the coroner’s verdict in 2024 it said the two officers who failed to enter her house had undergone a “reflective practice review”. It also said “no police actions were attributable to her death”.
The Probation Service has also been approached for comment.
