Son’s killing of mother could have been avoided if his mental health had been reassessed, inquest finds

The death of a Cornwall mother could have been avoided if her son’s mental health condition had been diagnosed earlier, an inquest has heard. Sally Poynton, 44, was attacked by her son Jacob Poynton-Whiting at her home in Crowlas, near Penzance, on June 22, 2021.

The tragedy came a year after Poynton-Whiting was briefly detained at Longreach mental institution in Redruth. He was discharged after 10 days without a diagnosis and a clear support plan in place, and was later removed from the mental health service list when he failed to respond to follow-up letters.

Andrew Cox, senior coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said that had he accepted referrals for Poynton-Whiting’s reassessment or needs assessment carried out after his discharge from Longreach in June 2020, his deteriorating mental health would have been identified and a treatment. plan implemented. Mr Cox said he believed if that had been the case it was “more likely that Sally would not have died when she did”.

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During a seven-day inquest at Cornwall Coroner’s Court in Truro, it was heard that Sally suffered a number of knife-like injuries, the most significant being to the neck. Amanda Jeffrey, a forensic pathologist for the Home Office, said the wound was irregular and consistent with a knife being drawn to the throat several times.

Sally had also suffered a stab wound to her abdomen and outer left thigh, a cut to her right index finger and a large cut to her leg. The cause of death was given as stab wounds to the neck and abdomen.

Poynton-Whiting was sentenced to a hospital order on 14 January 2022 after pleading guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and causing grievous bodily harm in connection with an injury to his younger brother while he was trying to desperately to help his mother. After his arrest, Poynton-Whiting was diagnosed with schizophrenia by two psychiatrists and it was heard that, following appropriate treatment, his condition had improved significantly.

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Bringing the inquest to a close, Mr Cox, who gave a finding of unlawful killing, said he had “no doubt there were individual irregularities in this case”, however he did not believe there was a breakdown in the systems in place within the agencies. .

Some of the individual failings it highlighted included: an incomplete summary of Poynton-Whiting’s discharge from Longreach for his doctor to access; did not provide Sally with information about her rights as next of kin; the incorrect recording of Poynton-Whiting’s new address at his new GP practice in Penryn when he moved in with his father; the decision not to send him for evaluation on the second urgent referral completed by his family doctor in Marazion; and failing to put in place a clear support plan after his release from Longreach.

Mr Cox also highlighted a lack of information sharing between agencies and concerns about the “blanket policy” of removing non-responders from mental health service lists, regardless of why they are not responding. However, the coroner said that: “I am careful to recognize that these are individual failures, they are not systemic.”

During the inquest, it was heard that Sally made at least 20 attempts to get her son help and have his mental health assessed. There were also at least 10 other attempts by family members to get him support.

However, in the 13 months before Sally’s death, Poynton-Whiting had not been seen face-to-face, despite being known to adult social work. Mr Cox said that at the time of Poynton-Whiting’s detention at Longreach, no staff saw that he had a mental health condition, but after Sally’s death, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He said it was clear his “condition had obviously deteriorated” in the 12 months since discharge.

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Mr Cox added that he would write a letter preventing future deaths to the Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust (CPFT), which runs Longreach, as he said there were lessons to be learnt. The trust apologized and said changes had been made.

The coroner also said: “There is always a concern about understaffing within the CPTF, but it is also a national issue. I know there have been national and international campaigns but there needs to be renewed efforts to recruit staff into mental health services in Cornwall.”

Raising the issue of domestic abuse by proxy after concerns were raised during the inquest about the influence of Sally’s ex-partner Matthew Whiting over her son following a bitter break-up, Mr Cox said he would also raise it nationally , as it was the first time he had come across it.

Closing the inquest, he said: “Sally was far too young to die. There are lessons to be learned from what happened here and I will do my best to make sure they are learned for the benefit of patients to come.”