Boy forced to watch mum

A young boy whose mum was murdered by her abusive partner says multiple chances were missed to save her. Shaun Hall, who is now 18, helplessly saw mother Michaela being physically and mentally attacked as a child by her boyfriend of two years Lee Kendall – but says the authorities continuously let her down.

Michaela, then 49, was eventually fatally stabbed in the eye with a kitchen knife by Kendall, 45, after a row over a meal she made for him at her home in Mount Hawke, Cornwall. The teen, who was just 13 at the time, says he was shielded from much of the horror at a young age and his mum moved him out of the family home just seven months before for his own safety.

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But since reaching adulthood, he said he is now determined to expose the failings that could have saved his mum.

He is now suing the police and probation service over the multiple opportunities missed to stop him – including on the night of Michaela's death when two police officers were sent to her house but didn't go inside.

The officers left the scene on the night stating "she doesn't help herself."

Kendall was well known to cops and had 47 previous convictions across 78 offences and authorities had recorded 16 assaults by him against Hall.

He had only been released from prison for assaulting her two weeks before the fatal attack but moved back in with her after being wrongly classified as just a "medium risk". This was after the probation report failed to include details of his previous violent behaviour against her – including an incident where he had strangled her.

He was released two weeks before her murder and allowed to move back into her home without close monitoring.

Shaun said if he was properly categorised as high or very high risk, as the probation services have now admitted he should have been, the extra restrictions and protections could have kept him away his mum – and she could still be alive today.

He said Kendall came "in and out" of his home life, that was broken by spells in prison, but he had always felt "uncomfortable" around him.

He said: "The night she was killed police came to the house but did nothing.

''The police said she 'didn't help herself'. How can you say that to a victim of domestic abuse? She was trapped in the relationship and wanted help.

"Yet they just left her there without doing anything – and hours later she was dead."

Truro Crown Court had previously heard how Kendall had drunk five bottles of wine and became angry over a dinner that "he didn't want" before he stabbed her to death in the bedroom on May 31 2021

He was jailed for life and told he would serve a minimum 21 years.

Speaking for the first time about his mother's murder, Shaun said said there had been numerous call-outs to the home over the abuse, but on the night of the murder police saw no sign of a disturbance and left.

Body-worn camera footage recorded one of the officers talking to the police control room, saying how they had visions of "her lying there with him covering her mouth".

She was found dead by her father Peter Hall the following evening. During that time police attended two further times but did not enter. Michaela's mother then called police for a welfare check but police did not attend so they went to the house themselves.

At an inquest held in 2024, coroner Andrew Cox said there had been "shortcomings and errors" by probation services before her death.

Shaun, who now lives with his grandparents near Redruth, Cornwall, said: "I was only 13 at the time so I'm only just been learning what happened.

"But I understand the situation a lot better now and want to speak out now I'm 18. I need to raise awareness to stop a repeat of this happening to anyone else.

"My mum was failed terribly by the police and probation service. We need change to stop this from happening again.

"The police failed her by not doing more to stop him and from not entering the property the night she was attacked. The probation also failed by classifying him as medium risk - he should have been high risk considering his past.

"All of what we are doing is in her name. I just want to bring justice for my mum. I knew mum would also want to do something like this. To help other people – it is what she would have done.

"I am now using this as motivation to get me through everything."

Shaun said his mum met her killer in 2019 while she was doing charity work to help rehome prisoners and get then back on their feet.

He added: "I don't think I was ever fully aware of what he was truly like as a person. He was just in the background.

"I did not fully understand domestic abuse. I knew what was happening but I did not know how I was meant to deal with it or what I was meant to do.

"We spoke a bit as he was living in the house. I did try and get along with him as mum was dating him. I did not want things to be awkward but I never really got along with him. He did make me feel very uncomfortable."

"He was drunk a lot of the time and I witnessed some of the domestic abuse. I think at the time I never fully processed what happened but I remember being upset by it. I did not quite realise how bad it was though - and it did not hit me properly until a couple of years later."

Shaun said looking back now he realises what a controlling hold he had on her.

He added: "Getting into a relationship with him caused her to lose her job. She just went downhill from there. At the time I was confused and did not understand what my mum saw in him. He was in and out of prison and went back inside for a year for domestic abuse. When he came out he was here most of the time, then would go away back to prison.

"He was in and out of our lives but mum would always stand by him. But it was a very manipulative relationship. He exerted a lot of control without her realising. It was not just physical but there was a lot of mental abuse and mind games.

"I remember at the time finding it very confusing. They would have a massive row and then it would be completely fine. It was a weird environment."

At such a young age, Shaun said he was spared the gory details of his mum's murder but remembers being in a blur after learning what happened.

He added: "I did not find out how she was killed for about months.. When she died I was told by my grandad but not all the details. I was just in shock at first and did not process it until later that day. I just remember lots going on. The family all being over, the police outside my house and everyone making a big fuss. It was a lot to take in at the time."

Shaun had been living with his aunt for a couple of months before the killing. Looking back, he believes it was his mum's way of keeping him safe from Kendalls' violent outbursts.

He added: "I've now processed it a lot more and have better knowledge. It's obviously very upsetting.

"At the time there was not much I could have done. Being 13 in that situation and being told different things by people. It was difficult situation to be in. I was kept away but I am not mad about that. I understand why they wouldn't want me to know that.

"When I was told I did not know how to process it. It never really hit me. Only going through therapy has it really sunk in."

Shaun said a big turning point was his 18th birthday.

He also learned about many of the failings at the inquest and is now working alongside the Good Law Project to hold the authorities to account.

He added: "They are handling the legal side but since I've become an adult I am able to do something about it and that is what drives me to keep fighting. I don't think police were fully trained around domestic violence. They were aware of my mum's situation but they didn't understand what it was like to be my mum.

"One officer said 'she doesn't help herself' which is not how you deal with a victim. It was very hard for mum to help herself in a very difficult situation. There needs to be a lot more awareness made around people in that situation among the police. They need to understand what people are going through. She didn't feel she had the ability to leave him."

Shaun said they were suing the police and probation service with the intention to put more pressure on authorities to make changes.

He added: "They didn't take it seriously and seriously underplayed the situation. There were obviously multiple incidents of when he could and should have gone back to prison. No-one made that call. It always felt a bit lazy just to let him back out and wait for something bigger to happen to then lock him away for a longer time.

"That obviously did happen – but the result of that was my mum lost her life. If he was properly categorised as a high risk the extra restrictions could have kept him away. That was another opportunity to prevent this.

"We have no option but to go down the legal route. It is so important we stop this from happening again."

Shaun said his childhood with his mum before she met Kendall was a happy one.

He added: "It was always nice. Just me, my mum and my brother. We would just go out to the beach and do stuff. Every now and then we would have a trip away. It was a nice home environment.

"She was always very loving. She was a wonderful mum and always made us feel comfortable. She tried her best to make things as nice as possible. We would have nice days out on the beach. She was very caring to everyone, close friends and family and would always look out for everyone.

"Getting involved in that relationship was really out of character for her. But there is not really a certain type of person it happens to. It just shows it can happen to anyone."

Shaun said his childhood after the murder was challenging and it impacted his mental health growing up.

He added: "It affected me more than I realised. I have PTSD from what happened and needed a lot of therapy.

"I am trying to get used to life without her. I don't want to do that – but I had to. It is sad knowing mum is not here for when I pass my driving test, going to college and then to uni, getting my first job and all those big life events.

"As for her killer, I don't have anything to say about him. I don't want to think about him at all. I just want to make some sort of positive change.

"The more I find out about how drastically the police and probation service failed my mum the more determined I am. This could have been prevented on so many occasions.

"He should not have been able to have had that opportunity to take her life. He should have been shut off a long time ago."

By the time the case came to court Shaun was 15, but he was again kept away.

He added: "I wasn't hugely aware but I was a little bit confused. They never asked me what happened and what my experience was and how things went down. I was there, I lived through it and saw what he did to my mum.

"I saw a lot of the domestic abuse but was confused they didn't want to hear from me about it.

"But I understand a bit more now. If I had to give a statement I would have found it all quite challenging.

"I think mum was trying to protect me from everything. There was a lot of stress with police and social services - and I think she just wanted to know I was safe.

"I see now she was trying to help him - fix him I guess. Her knowing I was safe at my aunts allowed her to try and help him.

"It was best for me to have been out of the house when it happened as I wasn't exposed to it.

"But we just need change. The police need to have a better response for people in that situation and take it more seriously. I just want more accountability towards it."

Michaela's dad Peter Hall, 74, said the case had proved the probation service was "not fit for purpose."

He added: "It was catastrophic. The mistakes meant he was released as a medium risk with everything that went with that. He should have clearly been a high risk and therefore under much more scrutiny when he was released.

"Had the proper information been given to the judge they would have had more powers to keep him in prison or monitor him more closely upon his release.

"He had tried to strangle my daughter. The woman forgot to put that in her report. When it went to the judge he classed it as he did without the full information and only had certain options."

Peter added: "When they released him, the police were supposed to have done a check and asked if she wanted him to back to live with her – they didn't.

"He went straight back to her house in Cornwall- he should have stayed in Plymouth. The probation officer signed her death warrant. He should never have released let alone back to her house. There should have been a ban on that and they should have checked on him.

"So many mistakes were made and he should have been recalled - but nobody bothered to call him out.

"If both had done their jobs right she would potentially have been alive today.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said Hall's murder was a "horrific crime" but it would be "inappropriate to comment on live legal proceedings".

Jim Colwell, Deputy Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall Police, said the force "immediately addressed recommendations made by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)".

He added: "We recognised some areas of learning in formal admissions within the inquest which have been implemented, and this work continues."

Cat Knight, solicitor at GLP, said: "With one woman killed in the UK every three days, Michaela's tragedy is all too common.

"The criminal justice system is failing women and putting them in danger. It's time for the police and probation service to treat domestic abuse as a threat to life and tackle it with the urgency it demands."