The former head of a probation company which was supervising a violent offender when he murdered a teenager in an unprovoked attack has told an inquest that staff had been working during a period of “difficult change” in the months before the killing.
Liz Rijnenberg, who was the probation director for the Wales Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) when David Braddon killed 18-year-old Conner Marshall at a caravan park, accepted there were weaknesses in the murderer’s supervision.
But Rijnenberg rejected the notion that the Wales CRC was in chaos and that staff were overwhelmed by the number of cases they were handling, insisting there were sufficient staff and managers to cope.
Braddon, who was 26, beat Marshall to death in a caravan park in south Wales in March 2015 having mistaken him for his estranged partner’s former boyfriend. He has been jailed for life.
Wales CRC was set up the year before the killing under the controversial probation changes led by the former justice secretary Chris Grayling. Thirty-five probation trusts in England and Wales were dismantled and replaced with 21 CRCs to manage low- or medium-risk offenders, while the National Probation Service looked after those posing a higher risk.
The barrister for Marshall’s family, Kirsten Heaven, suggested to Rijnenberg that the government’s “radical” changes to probation had led to “chaos”. Rijnenberg replied: “There was a degree of change.” But she insisted there were enough staff and managers to cope.
Rijnenberg said there had been careful planning for the transition between the two probation systems, adding: “It was a time of difficult change, one which I think staff and managers were in the main quick to deal with.”
Heaven also questioned Rijnenberg about claims that staff were under pressure because the new system meant the company was to be paid by results.
Rijnenberg said: “There was no training of people to work by payments for results, that was not the culture of the organisation. The culture is about delivering a good service for offenders.”
Marshall’s inquest in Pontypridd, south Wales, has heard there were delays in the preparation of a plan for Braddon’s supervision, and that before the killing he was using drugs and alcohol and not taking medication for mental health issues.
The junior probation services officer who was supervising Braddon has told the inquest she was overwhelmed by her workload and was juggling 60 cases. She also said oversight of her work was ad hoc, with managers frequently leaving.
Braddon was being supervised after being convicted of assaulting a police officer and of drugs offences. Heaven put to Rijnenberg that “weaknesses” in the supervision of Braddon had been identified in investigations that followed the murder. She replied: “Yes.” She also accepted that there was a backlog in the preparation of plans for some offenders.
The inquest continues.
