THE organisation responsible for overseeing public services in Torfaen has responded to the intervention of home secretary Priti Patel into the sentencing of a Cwmbran man who killed his wife.

Ruth Williams, 67, was strangled by her husband of 46 years in the early days of the first national coronavirus lockdown.

Anthony Williams, 70, was given a five-year prison sentence after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility. He was found not guilty of the charge of murder.

Priti Patel sent a letter, seen by the South Wales Argus, to Cllr Anthony Hunt, leader of Torfaen Council and the public services board of Torfaen – which the council is a member of – asking for a Domestic Homicide Review - or DHR - to be carried out in relation to the death of Mrs Williams.

The letter said Ms Patel personally reviewed the case after the widespread interest it had garnered and was “not satisfied with the conclusions.”

She explained a review should be carried out when the “death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by – (a) a person to whom he was related or with whom he was or had been in an intimate personal relationship, or (b) a member of the same household as himself.”

She also said: “You have focused your decision not to conduct a review on the fact that the victim and perpetrator did not have any meaningful contact with local agencies or services and consequently determined that there were no lessons to be learned. However, it should not be assumed that no contact with agencies indicates a DHR is not required.”

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Ms Patel added in the letter: “You believe Ruth Williams’ death to have been a spontaneous event, but I do not accept that there are no lessons to be learned here. A DHR would help to uncover whether there were missed opportunities and support your understanding about how to prevent further tragedies in cases where there do not appear to be any abuse. I consider this particularly important given domestic abuse is often a hidden harm with victims suffering in silence, sometimes until it is too late.”

A spokesperson for the Torfaen Public Service Board, said: "The chair of the Torfaen Public Service Board was notified by email on Saturday, March 6, the day after this decision had seemingly been given to the media.

"The home secretary has directed that a Domestic Homicide Review be undertaken and we will now progress this.

"This is a very sad and tragic loss of life, and on behalf of the Torfaen Public Service Board we once again pass our sincere thoughts and condolences to the family of Ruth Williams.

"The family are central to all domestic homicide reviews and one of our first priorities will be to contact the family and ensure appropriate support is provided throughout the review.’’

In a joint statement, Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds and MS Lynne Neagle said: “As local MP and MS, we are aware of the deep public concern in this case and have asked the Attorney-General to remit the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.

"A Domestic Homicide Review will now be carried out - our thoughts are with the family at this awful time.”