Inquest hears mother murdered children just hours after release from police custody
A woman who murdered her two children at their Stoke-on-Trent home was released by police just hours earlier after an alleged domestic assault.
Veronique John, 51, stabbed her son Ethan, 11, 27 times and inflicted fatal injuries on her daughter Elizabeth, 7, before attacking her partner at a nearby car wash. She later called 999, telling police: “I just killed my two kids.”
An inquest has now heard that officers were called to the family’s Flax Street home twice in the days leading up to the murders in June 2023. On the second visit, John was arrested after allegedly hitting her husband with wood and threatening to kill him.
She was released with a community resolution notice early the next morning—hours before the killings took place.
The inquest heard concerns that a domestic violence protection notice could have prevented her return home. Staffordshire Police have since been criticised for “inadequate” service levels in this case.
John was later ruled unfit to stand trial due to mental illness. A trial of facts confirmed she carried out the killings. She has been detained indefinitely.
The inquest continues.
