Scars That Shine: Justice for Justene Reece, UK’s First Manslaughter Case Linked to Coercive Control

On 22 February 2017, Justene Reece was found dead in her kitchen, along with a simple note. Cause of death: suicide.

Fast forward just five months later, and Nicholas Allen, her ex-partner, was jailed for ten years, plus an additional five years on licence. His crime? The manslaughter of Justene Reece — in a case that had never been seen before in the UK.

“This was an exceptional case. Allen subjected Justene, and those close to her, to a sustained campaign of torment until she was unable to endure his behaviour any longer. There is no doubt he ultimately caused her to take her own life.”

Those were the words of Senior Crown Prosecutor Hannah Sidaway at his sentencing.

The two had known each other since they were teenagers but entered into a relationship in the summer of 2015, moving in together later that year. The following October, they split up after Justene left him due to domestic abuse. They had been together for less than sixteen months.

Allen, however, refused to acknowledge the relationship had ended. What followed was an unprecedented level of abuse and harassment towards Justene and her family — a major part of the prosecution’s case that eventually led to his incarceration.

Justene entered a women’s refuge elsewhere in the country and successfully obtained a non-molestation order against him. He breached it within three days.

Such was Allen’s determination that he attempted contact 3,343 times in just five and a half months, using several false personas on social media and even impersonating Justene herself on more than one occasion — once to claim she had been raped and another to blame two specific men for it.

Justene was now on medication and had attempted to take her own life in January 2017. Hospital records noted this was due to Allen’s abuse. The following month, he was arrested for stalking and harassment. He had already been warned by police to stay away from her completely.

As unusual as the conviction and charges were, the prosecution pointed to the unending physical and mental assault at the hands of Allen, despite repeated warnings and arrests.

They also highlighted his string of past convictions for assault and harassment towards previous partners. This behaviour, they argued, was inherent in Allen’s nature — and that he would likely continue to do it to others. The only difference this time was that it tragically ended in the death of a woman.

Fourteen months later, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) released parts of its judgment, finding that Staffordshire Police had failed Justene to such an extent that one officer — had he not already retired — would have faced disciplinary proceedings.

A total of thirty-four incidents had been reported; sixteen were inappropriately logged in relation to previous incidents, while others were incorrectly recorded as connected to just one event. This included failures to arrest Allen when it should have been done and ignoring a chilling threat: “[…] put a bullet in someone.”

This mismanagement contributed to an underestimation of the threat level, preventing officers from realising how serious the situation was.

“A number of issues were also identified as unsatisfactory performance for other officers. This included a failure to record a crime; a failure to take appropriate steps following an application for disclosure under the domestic violence disclosure scheme; a number of failures to complete mandatory domestic abuse risk assessments with the woman; and a failure to adequately recognise a breach of the NMO.”

The police had, in their own words, “missed the bigger picture” and “could have done more.”

A total of seven officers and one civilian staff member were recommended to receive management action, including retraining due to identified faults within Staffordshire Police. All have since done so, including the entire Staffordshire force.

No one within the force was found to be directly at fault for Justene’s death.