Jury concludes unlawful killing in Makunova Inquest; Frederick Powell acted on behalf of the family

On 12 July 2018, Katrina Makunova, a 17 year-old girl, was killed by her ex-partner.  This tragic event followed multiple reports to the police prior to her death from the victim and her family about the perpetrator’s escalating behaviour. 

At the Inquest, the Jury concluded that Katrina was killed unlawfully, in the context of significant investigative and safeguarding failures by the police and social services.  

The Jury recorded that there was a pattern of abuse, violence, and controlling behaviour which was drawn to the attention of the police prior to Katrina’s death, but that proper and diligent investigations were not carried out to protect Katrina or punish the perpetrator. 

As a result of the Inquest, the Metropolitan Police have pledged to implement significant changes to officers’ domestic violence training and have made alterations to their virtual case management systems.  

In addition, the Senior Coroner made three reports calling for actions to prevent future deaths: one to the Metropolitan Police regarding the workload within its Community Safety Units; another to the Home Office regarding independent domestic violence advisors and the current impediments to them working across different boroughs; and a third asking relevant organisations to conduct further research on the role of knives and gang affiliation in assessing the risk of domestic violence.   

Frederick Powell, instructed by Ben Stanners of TV Edwards, acted for Katrina’s family. More coverage of the case can be found on the BBC, Daily Mail, Sun, ITV, Mirror, Independent, Evening Standard.