Police 'missed opportunities' before Kelly Wilkinson murder, inquest hears
Kelly Wilkinson was murdered by her estranged husband in 2021. (Supplied: Facebook)
In short:
An inquest is continuing into the murder of Gold Coast mother Kelly Wilkinson, who was killed by her estranged husband Brian Earl Johnston in 2021.
The court has heard police "missed opportunities" in their response to her domestic violence complaints in the weeks before she was killed.
What's next?
The inquest is examining police policy and procedure in relation to domestic violence call-outs.
A coronial inquest into the brutal murder of Gold Coast mother Kelly Wilkinson has heard police "missed opportunities" in their response to her domestic violence complaints in the weeks before she was killed.
The 27-year-old was stabbed and set alight outside her home in April 2021.
Her estranged husband, former US marine Brian Earl Johnston, is serving a life sentence in prison after confessing to her murder.
A coronial inquest in Southport Coroners Court is examining the interactions Ms Wilkinson and Johnston had with police in the lead-up to her death.
It is also probing whether Queensland police have made appropriate changes to policy and procedure in the years since.
Brian Earl Johnston killed Kelly Wilkinson in the backyard of her Arundel home. (Supplied: Facebook)
'Cop shopping' comment deemed 'wildly inappropriate'
The inquest, which began on Tuesday, has heard police had several interactions with Ms Wilkinson in the three weeks before her death.
The head of the Gold Coast Domestic, Family Violence (DFV) and Vulnerable Persons Unit (VPU), Detective Inspector Paul Fletcher, said on Wednesday that police "missed opportunities" in their response, including an incident about a week before Ms Wilkinson died.
The inquest heard the mother-of-three attended Southport Police Station to make a complaint about Johnston breaching a temporary protection order against him, but it was logged by an officer as a "street check".
Detective Inspector Fletcher said street checks were not used for domestic violence matters, as they could "get lost in the system" and were not referred to by the police's vulnerable person's unit in daily reviews.
He also said a file note left by the officer in the police database that Ms Wilkinson appeared to be "cop shopping to get the outcome she wants", was "wildly inappropriate".
"It doesn't really show a thorough understanding of the risks of domestic violence,"he said.
The inquest is expected to run on the Gold Coast for three days. (ABC News: Kimberley Bernard)
Johnston 'incorrectly' granted bail
The detective inspector also told the court of a second incident nine days before the murder, where Johnston was "incorrectly" given "station bail" when he attended Southport Police Station charged with raping Ms Wilkinson.
The court heard he should have been remanded in custody for the matter to be heard by a magistrate, as required under Queensland's bail act.
Queensland Police has since taken disciplinary action against both officers involved in the two incidents.
When asked by Coroner Stephanie Gallagher if different police responses could have been "outcome-changing" for Ms Wilkinson, Detective Inspector Fletcher said it was "hard to say".
"I think there were those missed opportunities,"he said.
"I think there have been opportunities for improvements in best practice with how we deal with domestic violence."
Kelly Wilkinson had several interactions with police before she was killed. (Supplied: Go Fund Me/Natalie Wilkinson)
'Holistic' response to DV
Detective Inspector Fletcher said apart from the two examples, police who responded to Ms Wilkinson's domestic violence complaints were "following procedures that were available to them at that point in time".
However, he outlined several changes Queensland Police had made following the Gold Coast mother's death.
He said everyone in the Gold Coast's DVU must now take part in a five-day specialist course to "enhance skills" in dealing with domestic and family violence.
The detective inspector told the court officers must also now check the police database for further context when filling out risk assessments, and work through each risk factor with the person making a domestic violence complaint.
The court heard earlier that police who responded to a domestic violence complaint from Ms Wilkinson on April 3 did not have access to a "high-risk report" on her file and later categorised her situation as "medium risk".
"[We want] to look at things more holistically and not just incident-based and try to look at the whole background of a relationship and what's been going on over time," Detective Inspector Fletcher said.
The inquest is scheduled to finish on Thursday.