He should have been in jail. Then she would still be here.

How many times did the system fail Kelly Thompson?

Kelly Thompson was half-running, half-stumbling down the road. She was visibly distressed.

Her neighbour Stephen Hall drove past in his car and then turned the car around to check on her.

He asked whether she was OK. Kelly replied: “My partner tried to strangle me.”

Kelly Thompson’s partner, Wayne Wood, drove up in his car, wedging Kelly between the two cars. Wood told Stephen Hall to, “get the fuck out of here”. Kelly called out to Stephen Hall’s wife, who was in the car, begging her to call the police.

The Halls called the police. Kelly Thompson fled and Wayne Wood chased her in his car.

The Halls watched that night as the police turned up at Kelly Thompson’s home.

They also watched the police leave.

It wasn’t the first time that police had been called to Kelly Thompson’s house. And it wasn’t the first time that they had walked away.

Kelly Thompson was murdered by Wayne Wood in February 2014. Wood then took his own life.

An inquest into Kelly’s death this week has heard that she had taken an intervention (restraining) order out against Wood.

He repeatedly breached that order by spying on her and following her to social events.

Wood was brought before a magistrate and the magistrate told him that if he breached the order again, he would be arrested. But as Kelly’s mother said, “when he continued to stalk Kelly, he didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.”

Every time that Wayne Wood was able to breach the intervention order and get away with it, he knew he could go a little further. He knew the police and the courts would do nothing, because they had done nothing in the past. Wayne Wood had no reason to expect that anyone would enforce an order that they had never enforced before.

Kelly Thompson called police 38 times about the violent behaviour of her ex-partner in the weeks before her death.

Thirty-eight times.

Thirty-eight times, Kelly Thompson called out for help.

Thirty-eight times, Kelly Thompson was let down.

Why was Wayne Wood free to attack Kelly Thompson that night? Why was he walking the streets? Why was he able to enter her house.

He was a threat to Kelly Thompson. Kelly knew it, her family knew it, her neighbours knew it, the police knew it, the courts knew it.

But Wayne Wood knew that the police and the courts would do nothing about it.

He was still free. Free to follow her. Free to terrorise her and, ultimately, free to murder her.

The authorities did not act to protect Kelly Thompson. Their inaction sent a message to Wayne Wood that he could do whatever he wanted. It is sending that same message right now to other abusers, other potential murderers.

Until the police and the courts take violence against women seriously, more women will die.

No one should ever have to call for help 38 times. No cry for help should ever be ignored.

What do you feel should have been done to help Kelly Thompson?

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