Victim says serial drug-rape offender should never have been released after 2023 murder
A survivor of Richard Scatchard’s drug-facilitated assaults argues he should not have been freed, after he later killed Kelly Faiers in 2023.
Krystyna, who first encountered Richard Scatchard in 1997, says she was repeatedly drugged and threatened, eventually reporting the abuse to police. Although he received four life sentences in 2000 for a series of drug-facilitated rapes, a parole board deemed his risk reduced enough to grant release on licence in 2013, imposing ten conditions. After moving to Somerset, Scatchard concealed his identity on a dating app, began a relationship with Kelly Faiers, and failed to disclose the relationship to his probation officer.
In 2023 he forced her to consume excessive sleeping tablets alongside alcohol, leading to her unlawful killing. The inquest highlighted failures in probation supervision, prompting the Ministry of Justice to allocate £700 million for more face-to-face oversight of dangerous offenders. Experts and a former police detective argue the case shows systemic gaps in managing repeat sexual predators.
Why it matters
The story exposes flaws in parole and probation systems that allowed a known rapist to kill again.
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