Victorian coroner calls out family violence failures after husband ambushes wife with hatchet

Comments come as coroner John Cain released findings of an investigation into the death of a woman who was murdered by her estranged husband. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

Family violence services are regularly failing to contact offenders who have been referred to them for support, a Victorian coroner investigating the death of a woman who was murdered by her estranged husband has found.

The coroner, John Cain, also found that more research should be done into “fixated threat” family violence murderers, given risk assessment tools used by police were largely inadequate in predicting homicides.