Shiney Row burning inquest: Failings 'possibly contributed' to death Published duration 4 June 2019

image copyright Family Handout/Northumbria Police image caption Quyen Ngoc Nguyen was raped, tortured and murdered

Failings by police and the probation service "possibly contributed" to the death of a woman murdered by two convicted killers, a coroner has ruled.

The body of Quyen Ngoc Nguyen, 28, was found in a burning car at Shiney Row, near Sunderland, in August 2017.

Her killers Stephen Unwin and William McFall, who were out of prison on licence, were jailed in April 2018

Coroner Derek Winter said breaches of Unwin's licence were not shared between Northumbria Police and probation.

He ruled Ms Nguyen had been unlawfully killed.

The force said it had made improvements to the way it shared information with the probation service.

Unwin, of Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland, and McFall, from Northern Ireland but who lived in Blackpool, had met in prison while serving life terms for separate murders.

The coroner looked at whether there were systemic and individual failures by those charged with the supervision of the pair after they were released.

Mr Winter said police recorded 26 pieces of intelligence about Unwin between 2012 and 2017 but these were not shared with probation officers.

Unwin was arrested after a disturbance in 2013 in which he threatened to burn a house down, and he allegedly assaulted a teenager in 2015.

image copyright Northumbria Police image caption Stephen Unwin (left) and William McFall were give whole-life terms in April 2018

A few weeks before Ms Nguyen was murdered, a woman told police Unwin had sent her a message in which he threatened to "smash her jaw in" and take turns with an accomplice to rape her.

One month later Unwin raped 28-year-old Ms Nguyen before he and McFall dumped her body in the burning vehicle.

Mr Winter said: "On the evidence, there were multiple occasions when information about Unwin could and should have been shared between the police and probation."

He added that if police had passed on information there would have been enforcement action against Unwin, although it would not have been enough to recall him to prison - but "might have moderated his behaviour".

The inquest, at Sunderland Coroner's Court, was told assessments of Unwin "fell below good practice", with records updated retrospectively after Ms Nguyen was killed.

'Unbearable suffering'

Mr Winter said: "The perpetrators of her murder were subject to life licence conditions, the known breaches of which were not acted upon in a sufficient, timely and co-ordinated manner, including a failure of information sharing, all of which were not causative but possibly contributed to her death."

The coroner will write to the justice secretary, Northumbria Police's chief constable and the probation service about the need for further training to help prevent future deaths.

After the hearing, Ms Ngoc Nguyen's sister Quynh said police and probation "should have carried out procedures more strictly and earlier".

She added: "Nothing can bring my sister back now, the suffering from her death is unbearable and has hugely affected our family members, physically and mentally.

"At least a better system can help other families to prevent other such tragedies."

'Improvements already made'

Northumbria Police's Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Bacon said: "We acknowledge the findings of the inquest and following this case we carried out a review of how we share information with the probation service.

"As a result, improvements have already been made, which includes introducing an enhanced electronic flagging system - with additional measures - to ensure all relevant information is identified and appropriately shared."

She added: "We have apologised to the family for failing to share information with the probation service and I do so again publicly."

A Probation Service spokesperson added: "This was a truly heinous crime and our sincere condolences remain with Ms Nguyen's family and friends.