Murders Couldn't Have Been Prevented

30 January 2014, 07:21 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Capital's been told the police and NHS could not have predicted or prevented the murders of a pregnant Derbyshire mum and her toddler back in 2010.

Rachael and Auden Slack were stabbed to death at their home in Holbrook by Rachael's mentally ill ex-partner, Andrew Cairns, who then killed himself.

A serious case review doesn't blame the police or NHS, but did tell them to make some changes.

Although Derbyshire's Assistant Chief Constable Karl Smetham has told Capital they can't guarantee it won't happen again:

'I think what we can do at best is provide the best protection we possibly can and the best interventions in relation to victims and offenders to make sure this is as unlikely as it possibly can be'.

'Could have been prevented'

However, Rachael's partner, Robert Barlow, believes police should have intervened earlier:

'Their lives were taken that day and they could have stood a better chance of it being avoided and that is something that I'll never move on from, ever.'

A jury at an inquest into their deaths last year was critical of police for failing to impress upon Ms Slack that she was at high risk of homicide after she had contact with officers about Cairns's increasingly worrying behaviour.

But a serious case review by Derby Safeguarding Children Board found that the murders could not have been foreseen with information known at the time.