A FAMILY forced to suffer 'unimaginable trauma' at the whim of a mentally-ill drug addict has shamed a health trust for 'shocking' failures, which they say allowed him to kill.
Loved ones of 61-year-old father-of-two Justin Skrebowski, who was stabbed to death in Abingdon's Poundland, labelled his death 'predictable and preventable' following his inquest yesterday.
Gulsen Alkan, widow of Justin Skrebowski. Pic: SWNS
They pointed to failures of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust to act on the danger posed by schizophrenic Trevor Joyce, who fatally attacked antiques dealer Mr Skrebowski in 2015.
An inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court concluded yesterday, with the Oxfordshire Coroner concluding that failures of the trust could have contributed to Mr Skrebowski's death on December 7.
A catalogue of concerns were raised about Joyce's care, including a lack of communication between health practitioners to act on concerns about Joyce, who repeatedly warned doctors he wanted to stab someone.
Trevor Joyce on the day of the attack
A statement released by Mr Skrebowski's family yesterday said: "The last two years have been an unimaginably traumatic period.
"We are grateful that the many failures and inadequacies in the care of Mr Joyce have been identified.
"The failure of senior clinicians and management to properly manage Mr Joyce's care and the obvious risk that he presented to the public has been shocking.
"We remain of the view that his death was both predictable and preventable.
"The sheer number of failings identified by the coroner to have possibly contributed to this unnecessary death speak for themselves."
Joyce randomly attacked Cutteslowe resident Mr Skrebowski while he was buying balloons on his wife Gulsen Alkan's birthday.
It left their twins Rosy and Enes, now five-years-old, without a father.
Mr Skrebowski's family pointed to 'complacency' of senior healthcare staff and managers, stressing how Joyce was 'known to be a serious risk to the public'.
Mrs Alkan, 41, said: "On the day I used to celebrate my birthday, Justin lost his life at the hands of someone for whom greater care should have been provided.
"If it hadn't been Justin, it would have been someone else.
"Justin paid with his life and we will bear the loss of these failures.
"We would all like to extend our condolences to the many people who have lost loved ones in similar circumstances since the death of Justin."
Justin Skrebowski
The family stressed the need for a 'clear, documented and managed care plan' for Joyce and better communication between authorities.
Oxford Health spokesman Chris Kearney extended condolences to the family.
He said: "We always strive to do everything we can to ensure we provide the highest possible standards of care at Oxford Health.
"There were actions that could have been better performed in this case, and for those we are sorry.
"Following Mr Skrebowski’s tragic death, the trust has undertaken a review of our services and implemented a number of changes based on our own review.
"We are also awaiting the findings of an independently-commissioned report by NHS England, which we hope will provide further assurances to both Mr Skrebowski’s family and the wider community.
"The trust will now carefully consider all of the evidence heard at the inquest, along with the findings of NHS England review, to ensure any necessary changes which have not already been made are fully addressed."
Parts of the NHS England report were read at the inquest yesterday, and admitted some failures but concluding: "We cannot say the tragic death of Mr Skrebowski was preventable'.
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