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Killer in the family podcast
A true crime podcast exploring men who kill their families.
Killer in the family podcast
Episode 37 - Laura Mortimer and Ella Dalby
In May 2018 Laura Mortimer and her 11 year old daughter Ella Dalby were killed by husband and step-father Christopher Boon. Before she was killed Laura had asked Boon to leave their marriage as she was sick of his violence and abuse but he turned on her and his step-daughter. With a history of abuse investigations found that he could have been stopped and Laura and Ella could have been saved.
This is the story of Laura Mortimer and Ella Dalby.
Information and support
· Samaritans UK Contact Us | Samaritans
· National Domestic Violence Helpline UK 0808 2000 247
· Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) Home - AAFDA
· Women’s Aid www.womensaid.org.uk
· Mental health support USA I'm looking for mental health help for myself | Mental Health America (mhanational.org)
· Domestic abuse helpline USA 1.800.799.SAFE Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org)
References
Clare Laxton is fundraising for Women's Aid Federation Of England (justgiving.com)
Domestic Homicide Review into Laura and Ella’s deaths 6391e6c75721054a8ae26e50 (homeoffice.gov.uk)
Tribute to Ella Dalby: Barnwood Park head speaks of deep sadness a
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Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family podcast. I'm your host, claire Laxton. Welcome to episode 37, and it's so great to be back after a little bit of a break. Sorry, the break was a bit longer than I intended, but I am feeling better now, and my break also included going to Silverstone for the weekend watching the British F1. So seven years ago, me and my husband actually met at Silverstone when we were both there watching the F1. So it's always a really special weekend for us and, yeah, give me a shout out if you're a fellow F1 fan as well. So I am probably going to still be a little bit croaky today, but loads better not coughing as much, and so I feel like I can really do this case justice. So this week's story is a suggestion from a listener, so thank you so much for this suggestion, and it came through the text function, which is via a link in the episode notes. So do keep the text and case suggestions coming in and don't forget that you can get in touch with me on insta at killer in the family pot as well. Stir at Killer in the Family Pot as well.
Speaker 1:So in May 2018, laura Mortimer and her 11-year-old daughter, ella Doherty, were killed by husband and stepfather, christopher Boone. Before she was killed, laura had asked Boone to leave their marriage as she was sick of his violence and abuse, but he turned on her and his stepdaughter With a history of abuse. Investigations found that he could have been stopped and Laura and Ella could have been saved. This is the story of Laura Mortimer and Ella Dolby, so this is going to be a really tough lesson team and I know every single episode is, but this one was definitely preventable, so it feels even tougher here. For the episode, I've relied on news stories mostly and the domestic homicide review into Laura and Ella's murders, as I think this is the first podcast episode on the case.
Speaker 1:Now, as I said, I read the domestic homicide review for Laura and Ella and we've talked about these reviews before. They're a statutory sort of review that takes place after every domestic homicide in England and Wales. Now they have been on my mind a lot recently because for my dissertation on intimate partner homicide and coercive control, I've actually read through 160 domestic homicide reviews where a woman's been killed by her male partner or ex-partner since 2016. And I've been looking for links between coercive control and intimate partner homicide and I can't lie. It was a real tough few months of research reading through all these reviews. Obviously it's for a good purpose to to really try and understand the risks that coercive control poses and therefore like what policing practice and other professional practice might have to change to try and prevent homicides. But yeah, it's been really difficult and in fact so.
Speaker 1:I was reading through all of these domestic homicide reviews for my master's dissertation and as part of my research I actually read through Laura and Ella's and that felt really real. Usually the domestic homicide reviews are anonymized or like a pseudonym is used, but sometimes the families want the real names to be used, as it was for Laura and Ella, and yeah, it just it really really brought it home to me what we were talking about. You know every week on this podcast what I'm researching for my masters and you know the reality of women's lives and you will have seen in the news this week in the UK that three more women were killed by a man. It was a mum and her two daughters and the man who killed them all was the ex-boyfriend of one of the daughters. So you know it's been a really tough week, media wise as well, for for these sorts of issues. It does always feel like my worlds are colliding a little bit when I read through a domestic homicide review for my master's research that I've also done an episode on for the podcast, and I also read through Claire and Charlotte Hart's review for my research and we talked about them in episode five. So as usual, all my sources are linked in the episode notes, as well as information and support if you need to talk about any of the issues that are raised in this episode.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about Laura. So Laura Mortimer was a successful businesswoman and loving mother to three children. She lived near Gloucester in the south west of England and was 31 years old when she was killed by her estranged husband. Laura's mother said about her quote Laura was an extremely loving and caring mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, auntie, niece and cousin. She lived life to the full, and full of fun with a great sense of humour. Laura was friendly to everyone and a happy person who loved to make others happy. She was adored by all of her family and by her many friends by so many people. Laura was always the one who'd be getting us together and organising family parties and meals out. Laura was also a really hard worker and she started her first business when she was 19 and started cutting hair for a living. Now she actually went on to set up a really successful wedding planning business and in 2017 she won the South West Region Guide for Brides Customer Service Award and the Three Counties Wedding Award. So obviously you know she's not only, as her mum described, a really friendly, happy person and really loving, but also really successful and obviously really determined.
Speaker 1:Now, around 2007, laura and her partner at the time had Ella, a lovely girl who just loved to dance. Apparently Now, ella was just seven years old when she was killed by her stepfather. Although Laura and Ella's dad, tom Dalby, didn't stay together, he was very much still involved in Ella's life and they co-parented together. Now Ella's grandparents spoke about her to the domestic homicide review and they said quote Ella was our adored first grandchild and we were extremely close. She was such a beautiful, loving, happy girl. She was also very talented at ballroom dancing. She loved to dance and was a natural performer so good that she achieved 93% on her dance exam the highest in the dance school. She adored her mother and they were also great friends who loved shopping together and doing girly things like pamper days. She adored her father and his family and loved spending time with them. Also, she adored her siblings and was like a little mother to them, always looking out for them. Now, in late 2010, so Ella was probably about three years old you know, laura and Ella's dad, tom, weren't together.
Speaker 1:Laura met someone online via Facebook, a guy called Christopher Boone. Now, interestingly, while Boone says that they met via Facebook, laura's friends and family say that he pursued Laura through Facebook with a friendship request and messages and in 2011,. Quite early on that year, boone actually moved in with Laura and Ella and this surprised her friends and family as well, because it was pretty soon into their relationship and they had concerns about Boone because of what they'd been told about his treatment of previous partners. Now, we've talked before in the podcast about sort of love bombing and a really intense start to a relationship being a sign of someone controlling. Indeed, we talked about it in episodes 13 and 14 about Lacey Peterson and how Scott Peterson would often love bomb his girlfriends well, he was married, so his mistresses and how that created a really intense link for them and dependence before they knew what was even happening. Now, talking about Boone's previous girlfriends, it turns out that Laura's friends and family did have cause to worry because in 2010, just a year before he met Laura sorry pursued Laura on Facebook.
Speaker 1:He Moon, had been handed a suspended sentence for assaulting both his former partner and her mother in front of two children. Now a suspended sentence is when you're not sent to prison, but if you commit another offence then you sort of will be sent to prison. He was convicted of assault, battery and criminal damage when he attacked his former partner and he attacked her because she ended their relationship. According to a Gloucester Live article, when Boone was interviewed by police about this assault, he said he had no recollection of it, saying he had blacked out. Now, interestingly, he said the same thing when he was arrested later for the murder of Laura and Ella. He said the same thing when he was arrested later for the murder of Laura and Ella.
Speaker 1:Now, as we know, from the start Laura's family and friends had concerns about Boone and indeed he would show himself to be a controlling and coercive partner throughout his relationship with Laura. This included economic abuse. All of Laura's money went into his bank account. He accumulated nearly £30,000 worth of debt in both their names, even though only £2,000 of it was actually sort of from what Laura was doing. And these are such common tactics of economic abuse clearly demonstrates coercive control and also helps trap women in those abusive relationships because of because of the economic pressures on them, the financial pressures. If all of your money is going into your partner's bank account, it's so difficult to sort of be able to, you know, save some money yourself, to try and leave. He also did try and isolate Laura from her friends and family, another classic control tactic, as we've talked about before and in the domestic homicide review, laura's family said he had tried to prevent Laura seeing her mother for Mother's Day and had threatened her saying if you go see your mum on mother's day, we're finished.
Speaker 1:And here are another couple of examples of his controlling behaviour. So Boone and this is I haven't heard this one before Boone made sure that there was only one key to the house that they lived in and Laura had that key, so that meant that she had to be at home before Boone and had to be there when he was. So, like I said, I've never heard this before and I've heard a lot of coercive and controlling behaviour and it never surprises me the different ways men think to control their partners. And Boone also used pets to control Laura. So he would buy lots of pets, so cats and dogs and everything which Laura then had to look after, and it tied her even more to the hope. I mean this guy is just a complete piece of crap. I mean this guy is just a complete piece of crap. He also really callously seemed to dislike Ella, as he was only in inverted commas her stepdaughter. There are actually records of him not allowing Ella to come on family holidays and doing other things to isolate her from the family. In the judge's sentencing remarks for Boone at his later trial for murder, he also said that Boone sometimes referred to Ella who remember was just 11 years old, as a C-U-N-T. I mean this is just despicable behaviour and again quite classic from a controlling and abusive person who really seems to resent something that isn't his, so like his stepdaughter. Now Laura and Boone actually went on to marry and have two children together and have two children together. I'm not sure of their names or ages as that information has been protected from the public, but just know that they will be living with what Boone has done and how far-reaching his abuse and violence has got.
Speaker 1:Now, before Boone killed Laura and Ella. The police had one interaction with them both when they were called out on Boxing Day 2014, when Laura went to a neighbour's house with Ella after she, as in Laura, had been punched by Boone. The police attended and Laura was taken to hospital and Boone taken to the police station hospital and Boone taken to the police station. Now, a risk assessment was carried out by the police and Laura was assessed as a medium risk. Now, if that assessment believed she was high risk, laura would have been referred to something called a multi-agency risk assessment conference or a MARA, where a group of professionals can decide to offer Laura some support.
Speaker 1:Now, laura also declined to support a prosecution of Boone, and so it actually went no further. Now, this is disappointing that it went no further. Not that Laura declined to support a prosecution, because that happens very often We'll talk about this incident later on in the episode but the police could have charged Boone here. One of the other things that happened during this incident was that Ella and one of her step-siblings were actually taken to Boone's mother to be looked after, and apparently Laura's sister, who was there that night, begged them not to take the children to his mother, but that was the decision they made.
Speaker 1:Now, after this incident, and after any incident like this that also involves children, it's normal practice for social services to do an assessment of the children in the home as there'd been violence and a police call out. So in early 2015, a social worker came to do that assessment and, according to the domestic homicide review into Laura and Ella's murders, she actually talked to Laura about Boone's previous convictions for assault and the social worker stated that Laura told her that it was all a lie and that she had no concerns about their relationship. Now, although this might seem strange to some people, considering Boone had just assaulted Laura, we have to remember the impact of control and abuse in relationships. It can make victims feel trapped that there's no way out and constantly risk assess their situation trying to keep the peace for the sake of their children. So fast forward a few years and in January 2018, laura found out that Boone was having an affair the effing cheek of him to have an affair. I just can't with this guy. And she found out because the woman he was having an affair with called the family home. So after this, laura had had enough and she asked Boone for a divorce. From this point on. They were separated but still lived in the same house for financial reasons, and I can't imagine that Boone, a controlling and coercive perpetrator, took that separation well.
Speaker 1:On Sunday, the 27th of May in 2018, laura Mortimer went out with friends. She was in good spirits, apparently, as, although things had been pretty tough for her family recently, she had told her estranged husband, christopher Boone, that he needed to move out within two weeks. Now he wasn't happy about this, but it was the clean break that she needed to move on from her violent and controlling husband who'd had an affair. Violent and controlling husband who'd had an affair After her night out. According to a Gloucester Live article, laura arrived home around 1am and faced-hind her auntie at 1.18am. At 4.50am later that night, slash morning police received a 999 call from Boone's mother's partner saying her son had killed Laura and Ella.
Speaker 1:The domestic homicide review stated that it's only really known to Boone what happened in those three hours, but what we do know is that in the kitchen in the downstairs of the house that Boone and Laura still lived in together, even though they were separated, he violently attacked Laura. He took a knife and stabbed her 18 times. She was found with defensive wounds, seemingly trying to do everything she can to survive. Now, at some point during this attack, it's thought that 11-year-old Ella came downstairs to see what was happening and to try and protect her mother. Boone rained down stab wounds on her as well and killed her. Ella had been stabbed 24 times and also had defensive wounds as she desperately fought for her life and this is where it gets even more horrific, if that's possible.
Speaker 1:After he had brutally killed their mother and stepsister downstairs, boone went upstairs to his other two children, who were in the house and awake, and put a DVD on for them. When the children were later interviewed by police, they said that when he came upstairs he was covered in blood and had the knife still in his hand. I just can't imagine the terror they felt. And I'm sure they were awake because they heard that something bad was happening downstairs. And then, after he put a DVD on for them, he left them on their own with their dead mother and stepsister downstairs. There are no words here. There really aren't Now. Boone then fled the house, called his mother and told her what he'd done, and then her partner called the police, as we heard earlier, and apparently the police had multiple phone calls with Boone trying to get him to hand himself in, and he was later arrested.
Speaker 1:Laura and Ella died fighting that night from a violent, horrific attack from their estranged husband and stepfather. The murders of Laura and Ella prompted huge shock and outpourings of grief amongst their family, friends and community. They had a joint funeral in June 2018 and apparently over a thousand people came to Gloucester Cathedral to say goodbye. Say goodbye and, horrifically, according to the domestic homicide review, the family commented that the attack on both Laura and Ella was so ferocious and it included injuries to their faces, which meant that they were didn't feel that they were able to say to fully say their goodbyes and mourn the loss of both Ella and Laura due to the severity of the injuries that they sustained. There were some beautiful tributes to Laura and Ella that day, including from some of Ella's school friends who remember are only 11 years old. When she was killed, ella was attending Barnwood Park School and, in response to the murder, the head teacher of the school, sarah Tufnell, said quote the whole Barnwood Park School community is incredibly shocked and deeply saddened to hear the tragic news of the death of one of our year seven students, ella Dalby, and her mum, laura. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ella's family and friends at this time and we'll do all we can to support them and Ella's many friends in the school in the weeks and months ahead. Barnwood Park is a small and tightly knit school and Ella was involved enthusiastically in our school life, having a particular passion for dance.
Speaker 1:So meanwhile, boone was charged with murder and was awaiting trial. He initially pled not guilty at a hearing at Bristol Crown Court in July 2018. We've talked before about how, you know, family annihilators like this plead not guilty and put the family and friends of the women and children they've murdered through just a unnecessarily horrific trial. Because he already called his mum and told him what he'd done, he said he was not guilty due to diminished responsibility, due to the loss of control and abnormality of mind. He claimed that his depression and epilepsy caused him to lose control. His defense solicitor stated that he had not premeditated the murders, but just lost control. Now I don't believe that for a second, and we know through all the episodes so far that we've talked through that, rather than a loss of control, family annihilators, when they kill their whole families, are much more likely to have absolute control and be taking that control back, particularly if their partner has decided to leave them, as Laura had, and actually a medical report found that there were no grounds for diminished responsibility and Boone soon saw that there was no other way forward. He changed his plea to guilty, thankfully, and was sentenced on the 5th of November 2018. This is his solicitor. It's ridiculous. Actually asked the judge to give Boone credit for his guilty plea? The absolute cheek of it. He initially pleaded not guilty as he was trying to get away with what he did, so why should he be given any credit for pleading guilty when his little plan didn't work? Literally, I just cannot with this guy. Boone, quite rightly, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 29 years, the same for each count of murder to run concurrently.
Speaker 1:And at the time of sentencing, the judge paid tribute to Ella for trying to save her mother. Quote she would have witnessed some part of your murderous attack on her mother and tried to stop you before you turned on her. What a brave girl. She and her mother were found lying together side by side. She and her mother were found lying together side by side.
Speaker 1:The court heard victim impact statements from Laura's mum, hilary, and Ella's dad, tom Hilary said quote every morning, when I wake up, I think it's just been a nightmare. Then I realise it's true. The horror just hits me again. And Ella's dad, tom, talked about how much he loved Ella and the huge range of emotions and trauma he had suffered since she'd been murdered. These victim impact statements are so important in cases like these.
Speaker 1:Having read through 160 domestic homicide reviews, you realise the overwhelming impact of homicides and how many people out there friends, families, women and children who've been murdered are the walking wounded. Their lives will never be the same and they have to continue without their loved ones, for some of them knowing that what happened could have been prevented. For some of them, knowing that what happened could have been prevented. Now let's talk a bit about the domestic homicide review into the murders of Laura and Ella. Now, we also spoke about these reviews in episode 12, talking about the murders of Julia and Will Pemberton, because it was this murder by her ex-husband and his father, alan Pemberton, that prompted her brother, frank Mullane, to really campaign for the statutory reviews after domestic homicides, and they were introduced in 2011. Now they are designed to try and understand what happened, if anything could have been prevented and if there were any lessons that needed to be learned and, in the analysis, the domestic homicide review concluded that Laura and Ella were victims of domestic abuse and coercive control from Boone. It also stated that, although Laura didn't seem to want to engage with support services of the police or the police, that didn't mean she wasn't experiencing domestic abuse, and this is so important to remember.
Speaker 1:As I spoke about earlier, and the report puts it really well. It says, quote there are many practical and psychological barriers that stand in the way of a woman leaving an abusive relationship, be it psychological, emotional, economic or physical threats, and women will often attempt to leave several times before making the final break. One of the most important reasons women don't leave is because it can be incredibly dangerous. The fear that women feel is very real. There's a huge rise in the likelihood of violence after separation 55% of women killed by their ex-partner or ex-spouse in 2017 were killed within the first month of separation and 87% in the first year. And this is what we talk about all the time and why our response to domestic abuse and coercive control needs to be so much more sophisticated than she just needs to leave, because actually, if she does leave, it puts her and her children at huge risk of not only violence but murder.
Speaker 1:And when thinking about the Boxing Day incident, when police were called, the review stated that, quote this incident is significant in that it's the only known precursor crime permitted by the perpetrator against either Laura or Ella prior to their murders in 2018. Now, as we've talked about, boone was coercively controlling Laura and abusing her long before that incident, but I think what the report is saying is that this is the only one where police were called or police had engagement with, and the report said that the police didn't do enough to hear the voice of Ella in this incident and get her experience, and also didn't do enough to collect evidence to move forward with what's called an evidence-led prosecution, when the victim doesn't want to press charges. So we talked earlier in the episode about how Nora didn't want to go forward with pressing charges and the police just dropped it. Actually, there are things called evidence-led prosecutions which don't need the victim support and they can continue to arrest and charge a perpetrator of abuse with the evidence that they've collected. But here the review says that the police didn't collect enough evidence so they couldn't have gone forward with that, and it's just really disappointing, and part of this was that they made no attempt to secure evidence from Ella, who is a witness to the incident. So it's really clear that the police response to the Boxing Day incident could have been better, as could other agencies responses, for example, social services. I really I just feel like Laura and Ella were really let down badly here. Now.
Speaker 1:Another criticism the report had was the missed opportunities around something called Claire's Law, and it's the official title is the domestic violence disclosure scheme. But Claire's Law was named after a woman called Clare Wood who was brutally killed by an ex-partner who had a history of violence against women. Clare's father, michael Brown, campaigned for Clare's Law, stating that if she or he knew about the perpetrator's past behaviour, he could have better protected her past behaviour. He could have better protected her, and what Claire's Law does is enable anyone who's worried about their partner or ex-partner to ask for information about their offending history, and relatives or friends of someone can also ask about someone they're concerned about. It's been in place since 2014 and, although it's a positive move to protect victims, it does have its challenges, and research done by my dissertation supervisor, dr Charlotte Barlow, found that Clare's Law could also have a sort of detrimental impact because it puts the onus on the victim to protect themselves once police have disclosed any violent history. So in some cases after disclosure the police have sort of been like well, we told her, you know, now it's up to her to protect herself. So there are some unintended consequences there. And actually what came out in the domestic homicide review was that Laura's family actually made a Claire's Law application to the police but were told they couldn't get any information as at that point the policy of Gloucestershire police was only to disclose if the victim made a request. Now obviously this is so frustrating because we know that if the police did disclose Boone's violent history Laura's family would have known the danger he posed to Laura. Now actually the police could have disclosed to a family member but it just wasn't their policy. They have changed that policy now and in their response the police said that their Claire's Laws processes were in their infancy. It was four years after they were introduced. So I really do think that they could have done better here.
Speaker 1:The Domestic Homicide Review made 32 recommendations overall focusing on a range of agencies including the NHS, the police and social services. An overall recommendation that was made for all of these agencies was to ensure that they have domestic abuse training, which includes economic abuse, and I think it should also include coercive control, and for social workers specifically, they recommended that they receive in-depth domestic abuse training, to quote better understand how Laura and her children were impacted on by the abuse and what actions they would take as a result of the training. I really, truly hope that these recommendations have been enacted and that there is better understanding of coercive control and domestic abuse in Gloucester. Now. I'm going to finish this episode with a dedication to Laura and Ella from Laura's mother that was printed in the Domestic Homicide Review. Most importantly, laura was a wonderful, devoted mother who absolutely adored her three children and showered them with love and affections. She loved having fun with them. Laura had so much to live for and so much promise. This episode is dedicated to Laura and Ella, the beautiful and brave people they were and the joy they brought to so many. This one's for you both and the joy they brought to so many. This one's for you both.
Speaker 1:This has been Killer in the Family podcast, written and produced by me, claire Laxton, with music from the brilliant Tom Box and Pixabay. I'll be back next week with another episode, so please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to send me any comments or questions to my insta at killer in the family pod or through a text via the episode notes. Do you let me know any stories you'd like me to cover as well? Until then, I've been claire laxton. This is killer in the family podcast. Until next time, take care, thank you, thank you.
