Separate inquest proposed for man believed to have killed mother and girlfriend

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

A coroner has proposed that an inquest into the death of a man believed to have killed his girlfriend and mother in separate knife attacks should be held separately to those of his two victims.

Coroner Anne-Louise Toal, however, said it made sense to hold the inquests into the deaths of Karen McClean-Flanagan and Stacey Knell together.

It is believed that Kenneth McClean-Flanagan, 26, murdered his mother Ms McClean-Flanagan, 50, and girlfriend Ms Knell, 30, in Newtownabbey in March 2021 before killing himself.

The double murder led to calls in the Northern Ireland Assembly for unified and determined action to tackle gender-based violence in Northern Ireland.

A first preliminary hearing in inquests into the three deaths was held at Belfast’s Laganside Courthouse on Monday.

Ms Knell’s next-of-kin, the PSNI and the Northern Health and Social Care Trust were all legally represented at the hearing.

Ms Toal told the court she would write to the McClean-Flanagan family to update them on the proceedings and to tell them they are welcome to participate in the inquests.

Ronan Daly, counsel for the coroner, said it was the beginning of what “is likely to be a reasonably significant disclosure phase in these inquests”.

He said the coroner had already received a number of statements from civilians and police officers in relation to pathology, forensic reports and clinical summaries.

He added: “Clearly this is the starting point in assimilation of materials.”

Michael McAleer, a barrister representing Ms Knell’s family, said there had been a Domestic Homocide Review (DHR) carried out in the case.

Ms Toal said she would liaise with the offices of the DHR so that relevant documents would be disclosed to the coronial process.

She added: “I just wanted to raise Mr Aleer whether it would be possible, or what the family views would be in relation to holding the inquests of Karen and Stacey together?

“What my usual practice is, is to hold a short inquest into the death of Mr McClean-Flanagan, separate to those two.

“I am mindful of the sensitivities obviously around these deaths.

“That would be my proposed course, however, I am more than happy to hear any submissions from the family whether they would want all three heard together.

“I would worry if I held Ms McClean-Flanagan and Ms Knell’s separately, we are going to be covering pretty much the same ground in both inquests.

“It certainly makes sense to hold both their inquests together in one rolled-up inquest hearing.

“Obviously there will be two separate sets of findings because technically it will be two separate inquests but to hold the hearings together with a separate one for Mr McClean-Flanagan.”

She asked for the issue to be raised with the families.

Another preliminary hearing will take place on June 10.