Mills-Westley family statement

Jennifer Mills-Westley’s daughters made the following statement following the HIW enquiry into the treatment of the man who went on to commit her murder:

“Today marks a significant milestone for our family.

Three and a half years after the brutal murder of our mother we now know the truth leading up to that tragic events on Friday 13th May 2011.

The Health Inspectorate of Wales report has highlighted a number of significant basic medical best practice failures. These failings are far worse than we had imagined.

We are shocked to learn that the clearly prejudicial views of the medical staff severely compromised the diagnosis and therefore subsequent treatment of Deyan Deyanov.

Had Betsi Cadwaladr recognised that Deyan Deyanov was a young man with very serious mental health problems then our mother would still be alive today.

We are saddened to learn that today’s report highlighted a number of failures, which were also evident in the treatment and care of Paul Khan and Christopher Devine. This adds to our grief and raises yet more questions.

We sincerely hope that our mother’s murder will not be in vain and that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) will recognise the repeated shortfalls in the care they provide and act on the issues identified in this report.

We cannot put into words the sense of betrayal we have experienced with our dealings with the Health Board. They have continued to prolong our pain by obstructing our pleas for truth and have become a faceless organisation hiding behind bureaucracy. The way they have treated our family has been appalling.

After much lobbying from our family, the Health Inspectorate of Wales agreed to undertake this review. They have completed a fair, transparent and robust investigation and have treated us with care and compassion throughout, for that we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.