A mother-of-two was told her police her violent ex-boyfriend threatened to 'put her head on a stick' just eleven days before her death, a report has revealed.
It concluded there were 'missed opportunities' to protect Regan Tierney, 27, before she was stabbed to death by Daniel Patten, 31, in a horrific murder suicide in Salford, Greater Manchester in 2019.
The young mother's body was discovered by her father, and it was later found that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) did nothing for three days after Miss Tierney phoned the force to tell them she believed she was in danger.
A report concluded there were 'missed opportunities' to protect Regan Tierney, 27 (pictured), before she was stabbed to death by Daniel Patten
By the time the police reached out again, Miss Tierney 'lost confidence' and decided not to take the matter further.
Patten was also found at the same address with critical injuries and died two days later.
A Domestic Homicide Review was commissioned by Salford Community Safety Partnership, following concerns about Regan's contact with GMP and other agencies prior to her death.
The report found that a number of opportunities were missed by services including GMP, GP practices, Bolton NHS FT services, Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation, and Salford Royal NHS Trust.
During their 10-year relationship, Miss Tierney was subject to coercive and controlling behaviour, intimidation, verbal abuse, physical violence and threats, at the hands of Patten.
But despite disclosing that she had been the victim of domestic violence to several professionals, the review found that Miss Tierney was never referred to specialist domestic abuse services.
During their 10-year relationship, Miss Tierney was subject to coercive and controlling behaviour
Police previously stated that nobody else was involved in Miss Tierney's death and that they were treating the tragedy as a murder suicide.
On May 25, 2019 both Miss Tierney and her father Dave Tierney phoned the police to report Patten's abusive behaviour.
The pair were no longer in a relationship then but were in contact to arrange visitation with their children.
Miss Tierney told police that Patten had threatened to 'put her head on a stick' and that she believed he was a danger to her but not to their children.
Mr Tierney called the force that same evening to report the matter but the call handler 'refused' to take details from him.
Mr Tierney called back a short time later, but the call handler noted that he was 'rude' and may have been intoxicated, and refused to discuss the matter with him.
Miss Tierney's report wasn't 'serviced' until May 28, at which point she didn't want to make a statement.
On May 25, 2019 both Miss Tierney and her father Dave Tierney (pictured) phoned the police to report Patten's abusive behaviour.
The report found that GMP officers hadn't followed up the incident with Patten at the time of her murder a few days later, noting that the actions of the call handler 'did not comply with GMPs Third Party Reporting Policy and represent a missed opportunity to offer safeguarding advice and add further information to the incident log'.
Had police attendance not been delayed, Miss Tierney's situation may have changed in the way she reported her concerns, a panel concluded.
There were also missed opportunities to protect the young mother by Bolton NHS Foundation Trust A&E after she presented with a broken nose in October 2012, the review found.
Miss Tierney told hospital staff that it was Patten who had caused the injury, but there was no consideration by staff at the trust to refer her to specialist domestic abuse services.
Greater Manchester Police also undertook a risk assessment with Regan following the assault, which was marked as 'standard risk,' but then increased to 'medium risk.'
Forensics officers at the scene where Miss Tierney was found dead in a semi-detached house in 2019
The report found that given the 'severity' of Miss Tierney's injuries, the risk could have been assessed as high which would have lead to a referral to MARAC, the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences.
Whilst Patten was eventually prosecuted for the assault, there were no risk assessments or safety planning put in place for Miss Tierney, it added.
She had also made disclosures that she had been the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Patten during a therapy session with Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust (GMMH).
The panel found there was 'no attempt' to gather further information about Patten, or 'any consideration' about referring her to a specialist domestic abuse service.
The review called the incident a 'missed opportunity' to 'explore risks' and 'make a referral to specialist domestic abuse services'.
During her therapy sessions with GMMH, Miss
