Steven Hoskins
Steven Hoskins was aged 39 and had different learning disabilities. Unfortunately, Steven was subjected to horrific abuses which sadly lead to the loss of his life in Cornwall on 6th July 2006. Steven had a difficult past; he suffered from a huge amount of bullying and discrimination all throughout his life. There are approximately 1.5 million individuals in the UK who have learning disabilities and 15% of which have secure long term tenancies or live in their own home. Up until July 2006, Steven was amongst that 15%. He required support in order to live within his community, adult social services decided to place him into a bedsit in April 2005 and received 2 hours of extra support each week. However, Steven came to the decision to cancel the additional allocated hour in the August, which then resulted in the council closing his case. However, no one thought about questioning why this was the case and didn’t investigate the matter any further.
Steven then went on to meet Darren Stewart, who was already well known to agencies for his previous criminal activities and for being a frequent user of the services. As Steven was desperate to gain new friendships, he accepted Darren Stewart (29), Sarah Bullock (16) and Martin Pollard (21) into his life and home. Sadly, due to his learning disabilities, Steven was unaware of the exploitative nature of their relationships.
As none of the agencies investigated the reasons as to why Steven cancelled his allocated additional support, this undoubtedly factored into one of the reasons as to why Steven suffered such a horrific death. After the group became involved in Hoskins life, it lead to him losing all control over his life, which then escalated further when Darren Stewart and his girlfriend Sarah Bullock moved in and began to manipulate and abuse him. Prior to his death, Steven’s final hours were extreme and undoubtedly terrifying. He was forced to swallow lethal doses of paracetamol which lead to a non-consensual overdose, he was tortured and made to wear a dog lead which he was hauled around his bed sit by and was also burned with cigarettes. After going through such torture, the group then forced him to walk to the railway viaduct. Although Hoskins was terrified of heights, Darren Stewart then forced him to climb over the safety rail and made to fall 30 metres to his death by Sarah Bullock, who was there kicking his face and standing on his hands to ensure he fell to his death. Hoskins body was found at the base of the St Austell railway viaduct.
Darren Stewart 29 and Sarah Bullock 16 were convicted of Hoskins murder and Martin Pollard 21 of his manslaughter.
After Stevens’s death, investigations uncovered the fact that he had numerous calls to various different agencies, all of which should have alerted them to the extent of the dangerous situation and the vulnerability of Steven. In 2000, the department of health, produced the guidance document, ‘no secrets’ which held the expectations for agencies to work together in order to promote the safety and wellbeing and to protect vulnerable adults. In 2008-2009, following the horrendous case of Steven Hoskins, it lead to the document going under a srious case review. However, since this has happened the changes have been substantial as they are now doing everything the document had aspired to do. The ‘No secrets’ document is currently under review and it is solely focussing on what went wrong but also what right and what they could do to ensure that everything is put in place to put it right.
Every agency had a small/large piece of information regarding Steven but rather than looking at it as a whole piece of information, each person viewed it as if it was disconnected from all of the other pieces. After his death, each agency recognised their failures to protect him, they were not aware that anything would lead to his death but the simple lack of communication between each agency certainly contributed. Their unwillingness to share the information with other agencies lead to him falling through the system as they simply did not think it was necessary to discuss any information regarding Steven.
Following the tragic death of Steven, although it was a period of sadness and sorrow it provided a motivation for a considerable change when protecting and safeguarding adults. Every agency progressed from the case and made it clear that certain areas of their practice needed to be changed. After the police read the case review, this lead to them implementing neighbourhood policing and they also introduced the problem solving policy. When the case review was carried out, it uncovered that the police had been called to Steven’s home on multiple occasions prior to his death, where on each occasion a different police unit was dispatched to his home which meant each call out was then dealt with as an entirely separate case. Therefore, no concerns or alarms were raised to make police aware that Steven was at risk. Prior to this, all calls were dealt with separately and independently, raising the vulnerability of the adult. As a result, knowing that this was an issue the police then introduced something called the ‘neighbourhood harm register’, which looks at calls that are becoming repetitive, that include the same individuals/case. The police now have regular meetings with other agencies to discuss problems or concerns regarding specific people.
In addition to the police department making changes to their working procedures, the medical emergency services also adjusted their systems. When the case was undergoing the review, detectives found there were no hospital reports although an ambulance had been called to Stevens address on a number of occasions, but the separate incidents were not significant enough to raise a cause for concern. However, they have now secured a new system that gathers calls together which helps to ensure the safety of vulnerable adults. Before Steven Hoskins case, they had no way of recognising how many times an individual had visited a unit within a minor injuries department.

However, the new system that is in place now, makes the service aware if: * They visit units on 3 occasions in 4 weeks * 3 occasions in 3 months * 6 occasions in 6 months * If a nurse has a cause for concern at the time an individual is receiving treatment
Cornwall’s minor injuries now works in line with the ambulance trust where they are able to communicate effectively and share information between each service, vulnerable adults are now cross referenced to ensure that there are no more individuals to fall through the system. Legislation that should have been used throughout Steven’s case includes; * Mental capacity act * Safeguarding vulnerable adults act * Dignity in care
It is evident that the serious case review has had a huge impact on the everyday practices of the agencies. Multi-agency training and guideline have provided additional help whilst the biggest challenge is the agencies working together to try and support people to live a safe life and also manage the risk. Following the tragedy of Steven’s death, all agencies are aware that the must work as a team in order for immediate action to be taken to ensure that another vulnerable adult doesn’t have to go through the same tragic experience.