Colleen Madden

SENIOR council officers have been grilled about a series of “systemic” failures and “missed opportunities” at a coroner’s inquest into the death of a seriously vulnerable young mother in a hotel.

Colleen Madden had been moved into the Travelodge in King’s Cross Road following weeks of chaotic discussions between various council departments and the probation service that each appeared unwilling or incapable of finding suitable housing for her.

The 31-year-old, who had a significant brain injury from an accident on the Euston Road in 2018, was well known to the council having grown up in special educational needs schools due to her ADHD.

She suffered abuse while living on the street or in Camden hostels and had a High Court order handing over power of attorney for her finances to a “deputy”, the inquest at Bow Coroner’s Court heard.

Ms Madden, who grew up in West Hampstead, had been released and then recalled to prison three times before her death simply because the right kind of supportive housing was not fixed up for her.

Finally, she was released to the hotel where no proper welfare checks were made and she was found dead on January 16, 2025 – three days after the medical evidence said she died.

Campaigners say the case raises serious questions about the planning and support available for vulnerable women who are being released from prison.

Yesterday (Wednesday), Michelle Head, director of adult social care at Camden Council, explained how no real plan was in place for Ms Madden due to confusion about “complex” legislation that she believed handed responsibility to the borough in which a person is living. She said that in Ms Madden’s case this meant local authority officers in Surrey, which covers Bronzefield prison where she was detained, had to provide a needs assessment report before Camden Council believed it could fully get involved.

Ms Head said: “At that time [she was placed in a hotel] the focus was on putting a roof over her rather than having a holistic understanding of how best to support her.

“In hindsight, adult social care, in these circumstances happening again, could have been more proactive…”

The Madden family’s barrister, Sophie Walker, asked why no agency was taking the lead? “I’m not sure,” Ms Head told the inquest. “I think we needed one of those agencies to take charge. I don’t know why they didn’t on that occasion. There were no protocols or procedures to work in that way. We have put guidance in place to support that way of working moving forward.”

There had been “missed opportunities”, she added, but she did not believe the council as a whole had acted outside of the law. She added that Ms Madden’s recall to prison was partly to do with a decision that she was judged to be better off in prison over the Christmas holiday period due to staff being on holiday.

Chris Stone, a services manager at Camden Council, spoke about a “high-pressure environment” and said that it had been “a very busy day” when the meeting about Ms Madden’s release from prison happened.

The inquest heard changes were being put in place after an independent investigation published a stinging report into the case earlier this year. The report’s author, Gill Taylor, gave evidence about her review that found a string of “significant missed opportunities”, “confused planning” and “uncertainty” over the legal duty to provide housing to a vulnerable woman following release from jail, and a “significant gap” in the “housing supply for women experiencing multiple disadvantages” which requires “structural change”.

Barrister Owen Lewis, representing Ms Madden’s legal “deputy”, told the court that the “death could have been prevented” if the council had “found housing to meet her needs”.

On Monday, Ms Madden’s twin sister Clare had delivered a power “pen portrait” statement that drew attention to the 644-day wait for an inquest that has been repeatedly put back due to legal arguments and delayed filing of reports. She described her older twin as a “girly girl who loved make-up and the colour pink”, who wore flowers in her hair and wanted to buy a house and own animals.

But she added: “She was a vulnerable woman who was taken advantage of on many occasions. She was a fighter, who did not deserve to die.”

The inquest continues.