Family photoMultiple failings have been identified in the case of a woman who was killed and dismembered in her own home.
Luke Deeley, 26, walked into June Fox-Roberts’ home in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and killed her in November 2021.
Family of Ms Fox-Roberts, 65, believe her death could have been avoided.
A safeguarding review concluded that opportunities had been missed and made a number of recommendations, while Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board apologized and accepted the recommendations.
WARNING: Contains upsetting content
Ms Fox-Roberts’ body was discovered on November 21 by her daughter Abi Sheppard and a family friend, who had become concerned after being unable to contact her.
Deeley, who had been living rough in Llantwit Fardre and Church Village, got into the house on St Anne’s Drive through an unlocked door in the early hours.
It is thought Ms Fox-Roberts came downstairs and was attacked by Deeley in the hallway.
She suffered head injuries before being dragged into the dining room where she was placed on a tarpaulin, decapitated and dismembered using an axe.
Deeley, then 25 and an art student, was arrested two days later after being spotted on CCTV living rough at a nearby tire depot.
He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was detained indefinitely at Ashworth psychiatric hospital in April 2023.
South Wales PoliceA single unified safeguarding review was carried out to assess the role of agencies involved in the case, including the health board, Rhondda Cynon Taf council, South Wales Police and the University of South Wales.
It found:
- Poor communication between all agencies including education, health, local authority and police and between these agencies and the Deeley family
- “Missed opportunities” in Deeley’s care involving the Community Mental Health Team
- No mechanism for sharing information when a patient moves between health board localities on a temporary basis, as Deeley did as a student.
- South Wales Police should have categorized the killing as a “critical incident” and the rationale for not doing so was not clear.
The report comes in the wake of a string of cases where the role of authorities in caring for people with serious mental illness who have gone on to kill has been criticized.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board was also criticized later the killing of 88-year-old John Rees in a Co-op store by Zara Radcliffe in May 2020.
An inquest in May 2024 found serious failures contributed to the death of Dr. Kim Harrison, who was killed by his schizophrenic son.
Ms Fox-Roberts, a former IT consultant who loved baking and ran a cafe for a time, was described by her family as “a force of nature, passionate, vibrant, determined”.
Her daughter Abi Sheppard said: “She was just an absolute beacon in my life, my absolute rock.”
Family photoMs Sheppard said she was angry “that the system has let us down”.
“For me, there’s accountability to be held with the health board and the mental health system – the fact that he fell through the cracks,” she said.
“He had a history of violence and aggression. And if he’d been cared for properly and monitored, would it have happened? We don’t know, we’ll never know.
“It’s not good enough that people are falling through the cracks. There are consequences to that – my mother is one of those consequences and it’s destroyed my world because he wasn’t cared for properly.”
Ms. Sheppard said that while the report had answered some of the family’s questions, others remained unanswered.
“We’re never going to know why that house, why that street, why the way he did it, why he dismembered her?”
Deeley’s parents said in a statement that the health board “failed to provide the care and support needed by our son” and had not learned the lessons of other tragedies.
“If the health board had provided the care required in accordance with the Mental Health (Wales) Measure, this tragedy may have been prevented.
“There have been too many mental health-related tragedies in this health board area. Due to a lack of accountability and failure to implement the lessons learned from previous reports, the same mistakes are needlessly being made time and time again.”
They added, “We cannot imagine the devastation caused to the family of June Fox-Roberts and they are always in our thoughts.”
‘Total failure’ of system
Trisha Fox, Abi’s sister, said she hoped the findings of the review would lead to meaningful change for others suffering from serious mental health conditions.
“I feel it’s a total failure of the system he was supposed to be under the care of.
“I think there’s something which needs to be looked at, immediately, not in two or five years’ time, not ‘we’ll take the appropriate steps as and when’ – it needs to be done now.
“And this isn’t the only such case, there have been other cases similar to this and nothing seems to be changing, or if it does change it’s too slow.
“So I feel really, really angry about it.”
Ms Sheppard said the family hopes there will now be an inquest into her mother’s death, “because we think that might provide us with more answers”.
“We’re approaching three years in November (since she died), and it just feels like this never ends,” she said.
“We’re a family that’s been brought up by a strong, independent woman whose view was that you just keep swimming, and that’s what we do, but with this massive gaping hole in our hearts where we’re never able to catch our breath. because there’s always something coming at us. It’s exhausting.”
Paul Mears, chief executive of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, said, “We know this tragic incident has impacted upon the lives of many people, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family of June Fox-Roberts as they continue to come to terms with her death.
“We apologize to both families for the instances in which Luke Deeley’s care fell short of the high standards we expect for all of our service users.”
Mr Mears said the health board accepted the review recommendations, which reflected the findings of their own internal investigation.
