A chilling documentary details the 999 call when a woman watched her ex-husband burn her mum alive.
Distraught Susan Lynch is heard saying: “He’s set fire to my mum in the garden, she’s on fire. He killed my mum.”
The murder in March 2018 came after months of stalking by Kieren Lynch, 50, of his estranged family including threats to kill his ex-wife and criminal damage.
Lynch had started calling members of Susan’s family up to 80 times a day, including her mother Jennifer Cronin, 70, and his daughters, Matilda and Molly.
But Susan says she is more angry with the police than her ex for the nightmare that unfolded.
In the ITV documentary in a series called A Murder In The Family, police admit they let Susan’s family down.
Senior investigating officer Stephen Jennings, from Essex Police, said: “We made sure that he [Kieren] was wanted on the Police National Computer. We did attend Kieren’s home address to try and arrest him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. I think we could have done more.”
He confirms on the morning of the murder in Benfleet, Essex, officers changed the case status from “high risk” to “medium”, meaning they did not expect “imminent” physical harm.
He added: “We did make mistakes. Kieren was clearly suffering in terms of his mental health. We should have looked at that escalating behaviour.
“We missed opportunities to apprehend him, which could have possibly prevented what happened to Jennifer.”
Lynch broke into the garden, with his arm on fire, and threw petrol over Jennifer’s face, head and back, setting them alight. He suffered 97% burns and died that evening, while Jennifer passed away 17 days later.
Susan, 49, tells the film: “I went into the inquest angry just at Kieren, but after learning the facts I’m more angry with the police. I trusted the police, I thought they would stop him. I’ve never had a face-to-face apology ever.”
The couple were married for 24 years before he became violent when drinking and developed a cocaine addiction.
Lynch got his life back together, but became abusive when he found out Susan was in a relationship and asked for a divorce. In January 2018, he sent violent text messages, before smashing up the patio of the family home with a hammer.
He was arrested for criminal damage and released on bail but he continued to call Susan and her family.
On the day before the petrol attack, he threatened to kill one of his daughters, which led to the police visiting his house.
An inquest found five areas of police failings contributed to Jennifer’s death.
But in March 2019 the Independent Office for Police Conduct found no case to answer for police misconduct.
A Murder In The Family is on ITVX.
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