A seven year-old girl was murdered by her estranged father after her safe house address was sent to him by his mother’s solicitor, a serious case review has revealed.
British girl Mary Shipstone and her mother, Lyndsey, had moved from the seaside town of Brighton to East Sussex and were returning to the safe house from school when Yasser Alromisse shot Mary in the head. He then turned the gun on himself.
The review revealed that Lyndsey, who had moved to the safe house with her daughter to escape domestic abuse and violence, had reported to police that her solicitor had inadvertently given her address to Alromisse in legal papers five months before the shooting. Evidence or strong suspicion also emerged that details of her previous addresses or identity were given to the 46 year-old father by other bodies, including a bank and the Child Support Agency.
However, the serious case review found that no-one could have predicted or prevented the killing, and that there was no evidence that Alromisse found his daughter and estranged wife through the address disclosures. The criminal investigation into the shooting found that he had used “a variety of covert and illicit means” to trace the address and routine of his daughter. The report found that “No professional working with the family could have prevented him acting as he did”.
It was also noted that Mary’s death was a “spite killing” that “was calculated to deprive the mother of her child while at the same time leaving her with the permanent memory of her death”.
Lyndsey slammed the lack of support she got during the five-year custody battle. According to UK newspaper The Sun, she said: “Because it took so long, people underestimate the seriousness.
“Actually there is a lot of danger. We had the briefest window and then Mary was killed and really nothing was OK.
“She was a very happy girl and she was developing as a person in her own right, which is what every child deserves.”
A spokesman for the East Sussex local safeguarding children board said it was a “tragic case’.
“After a thorough independent review, The LSCB concluded, as did the investigating police officers, that the father planned and carried out the killing in a secretive way, using the internet and a range of covert methods to trace the family and obtain the means to carry out the murder.
He added: “It is certainly true that on a couple of occasions information was inadvertently given to the father by a few organisations which might have revealed the whereabouts of the mother and the child.
“However, as we have detailed in the report, there is no evidence this information did actually allow him to track them down”.
He went on to add that the case has highlighted the importance of considering the power of the internet and social media when safety planning and giving guidance to those at risk.
