Mother-of-three was unlawfully killed by convicted rapist who coerced her into taking sleeping tablets so he could have sex with her while she was unconscious, inquest rules

By JACK HARDY, NEWS REPORTER and MARIO LAGHOS Published: 14:56, 8 July 2026 | Updated: 14:58, 8 July 2026 A mother-of-three was unlawfully killed by a serial sex offender on life licence who coerced her into taking sleeping tablets so he could have sex with her while she was unconscious. Kelly Faiers, 61, was discovered by paramedics in Minehead, Somerset, on October 15 2023, after her partner, convicted predator Richard Scatchard, called an ambulance to the property. The 70-year-old had been convicted of a string of offences throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including rape, indecent assault, attempted kidnap and drugging his victims. Yet officers who attended the scene failed to arrest him and the next day he vanished, leading to a manhunt which ended when his body was found in a caravan weeks later. Somerset Coroner’s Court heard that the first uniformed officers who arrived at Scatchard’s flat wanted to arrest him on suspicion of manslaughter but were overruled by a duty detective sergeant. Those officers described being 'confused, angry and frustrated' at the decision and felt their concerns had been 'dismissed'. The police watchdog last year concluded Avon and Somerset Police provided an ‘unacceptable’ level of service to Ms Faiers’s family over her suspected killing. An inquest into Ms Faiers's death today concluded that she had been coerced into taking 'excessive quantities' of sleeping tablets by Scatchard, with whom she had been in a romantic relationship for several months. The coroner also said she would be writing to Avon and Somerset Police to express 'concerns about officers on the scene being told not to arrest and then openly have that decision questioned following their instruction especially when we are talking about dangerous offenders'. Kelly Faiers, 61, was discovered by paramedics in Minehead, Somerset, on October 15 2023, after her partner, convicted predator Richard Scatchard, called an ambulance to the property Richard Scatchard, 70, had been convicted of a string of offences throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including rape, indecent assault, attempted kidnap and drugging his victims Messages sent by Scatchard in the days before Ms Faiers's death revealed he told her of his desire to see her 'lying there naked, falling unconscious' with Ms Faiers replying: 'I don't particularly like that, I hate loss of control!!!' When Ms Faiers attempted to end the relationship, the court heard how she was bombarded with 400 WhatsApp messages and texts in a single day, with senior coroner Samantha Marsh describing the relationship as 'controlling and coercive'. She described Scatchard as 'devious, cunning and untruthful'. Scatchard had been convicted of preying upon four women, all of whom he met online or through ‘lonely hearts’ adverts. When he felt the relationship with his victims was coming to an end, he drugged and sexually assaulted them, taking videos and photos of his abuse while they were unconscious. He was jailed for life in 2001, but became eligible for parole after just five years and four months and was ultimately released in 2013 on a life licence. He relocated to Minehead in 2020 when he met Ms Faiers.  At the time of Ms Faiers's death, it was a requirement of Scatchard's licence that he should disclose any emerging romantic relationships to the police and probation.  However he had concealed his new relationship from authorities, who did not become aware of her existence until after she had died. He also deceived Ms Faiers as to his true identity and is understood to have met her under the alias 'Richard Dunlop'. There is no evidence to suggest she was aware that he was imprisoned for life for a number of offences, including rape and attempted kidnapping. On the evening of October 14, Ms Faiers and Scatchard were seen drinking in a pub in Minehead, Somerset, before returning to his flat in the town.  His evidence to paramedics was that Ms Faiers went to sleep on the floor of the lounge and he discovered her unresponsive at around 3 am before calling for an ambulance. He told medics she had taken around 10 sleeping pills and had consumed a large quantity of alcohol, including vodka. A toxicology report showed that Ms Faiers's blood contained levels of alcohol around three times the drink drive limit. While the coroner ruled that, as a 'high functioning alcoholic', there was no evidence Ms Faiers was 'drunk', she was clearly intoxicated and accepted the evidence of the Home Office pathologist that her death resulted from a combination of alcohol intoxication and the antihistamine diphenhydramine.  While neither in isolation was likely to have resulted in death, the combination 'working in tandem' proved fatal, she concluded.  Ms Faiers was discovered with her trousers and underwear lowered below her hips and investigators could not determine how this had happened.  There was no evidence that Ms Faiers took sleeping tablets usually, or at all, and the coroner ruled that the tablets found in her system belonged to Scatchard.  She concluded it was a 'reasonable inference' that he coerced her into taking a 'significantly higher dose' than would be therapeutic and that her actions on the day of her death appear to have come about 'solely as a result of Richard Scatchard's coercive behaviour.' The coroner said the nature of the relationship was 'tragic', Ms Faiers was lonely and on the evidence she preferred seeing 'a man who was essentially horrible to her...than being alone'.  Ms Faiers did not introduce Scatchard to her children, because she knew they would not like him, the coroner said.  Work colleagues in whom she confided, warned Ms Faiers of a number of red flags, and urged her to leave the relationship.  The coroner said that without in any way blaming Ms Faiers for her own death, that had she disclosed the relationship to her children, they would have had an opportunity to provide further safeguarding and potentially discover Scatchard's true identity as a convicted rapist.  She said: 'I am not blaming Kelly for one minute, it is not her fault, she did not have a part in her death. But I cannot ignore that her concealment, by both parties, meant those who loved her didn't have the opportunity to help her, or to spot the obvious red flags everybody around Kelly, especially her colleagues, saw. 'Her family did not have the opportunity to try and persuade her, or even to consult the authorities on her behalf. This secrecy on Kelly's side and indeed both sides inadvertently facilitated Richard Scatchard's actions going undetected for so long.' Concluding, the coroner gave the medical cause of death as combined alcohol and diphenhydramine use, which she said amounted to an unlawful killing because Scatchard had coerced her into taking the tablets, in order to 'have his way' with her, despite her protests seen in messages sent in days prior. She said: 'Sleeping tablets are not the sole cause but the joint main cause (of death). In other words coercing an intoxicated person to take an excess quantity of sleeping pills has caused her death, albeit her death was not the intended result. 'For the record I do not believe her death intended to be the result, he intended to stupefy and incapacitate her so he could have his way with her. 'Whether or not he performed an act of a sexual nature cannot be determined on the evidence but that is not something this court is required to grapple with or determine.'