THE crime commissioner for Essex has used the tragic case of a woman who killed herself and her disabled daughter after she was targeted by antisocial behaviour over several years, as part of Essex Police's focus to improve the help it gives vulnerable people.

The incident happened in October 2007.

More than 17 years later commissioner Roger Hirst as used it as an exemplar of how not to streat vulnerable people and has issued a warning about the work needed to avoid a repeat of what happened to Fiona Pilkington comes after the Police Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspection assessed that Essex Police requires improvement in how it protects vulnerable people.

Mr Hirst said there was no risk of it actually happening in Essex but that failures to protect vulnerable people elsewhere—as in the case of Ms Pilkington—had led to tragic outcomes.

Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter

Fiona Pilkington, from Barwell in Leicestershire, killed herself and her severely disabled daughter, Francesca, after suffering years of abuse.

The vulnerable single mother, who also had a son, Anthony, complained to police 33 times before she decided to end her life and that of 18-year-old Francesca by setting fire to the care home she was in.

Among the catalogue of abuse the family suffered over a 10-year period was having a cheque book and DSS disability book stolen, fires lit outside their home, youngsters urinating on their fence, eggs and stones thrown at it, along with a torrent of bullying and verbal abuse.

Anthony, who also had learning disabilities, was held at knife point in a garden shed.

However, an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report in 2011 concluded that incidents were too often dealt with by police officers in isolation.

This and other factors, such as not identifying the family as vulnerable, and not recognising the anti-social behaviour and harassment as targeted hate crime, also contributed to her mental breakdown.

An inquest into their deaths concluded that the response of Leicestershire Police, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council and Leicestershire County Council's adult social services department all contributed to Ms Pilkington's decision to kill herself and her daughter.

Mr Hirst, speaking at a Police Crime Panel meeting on June 19, said: "There is a real need to focus more on protecting vulnerable people. And the area for improvement, which in the questions that we have had flagged to us, and you have clearly focused on, I would agree with.

"It is around how we identify better and support better repeat victims of anti-social behaviour. We have an area for improvement here – it is not a cause of concern, but it is an area of improvement. And it is a very important area for improvement."

He added: "That police service was found to have dealt with each individual incident and treated it with the level of severity of that incident, but taken no account of the cumulative impact.

"The cumulative impact was so great that the family could not withstand it. And that is what this is about. It's not a cause of concern – they are not saying Essex Police is at risk at the moment of seeing that happen here in Essex.

"But as an area for improvement when it is around vulnerable people and anti-social behaviour – and that is another one of our priorities in the police and crime plan – it is very clearly something we are focused on."

The Police Efficiency, Effectiveness and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspection assessed the force across 10 areas of policing. Essex Police was found to be Good in two areas (recording data about crime and developing a positive workforce) and Adequate in six areas (its use of police powers and public treatment, preventing crime, responding to the public, investigating crime, managing offenders and leadership and force management).

The inspectorate's assessment of the effectiveness of Essex Police's services to victims of crime is ungraded.