Doreen Langham inquest shown chilling video of ex signing DVO just days before killing her

Chilling video of Doreen Langham’s ex-partner and killer captures him telling police “I’m not happy to walk away because I love her”. WATCH THE VIDEO

The man who killed himself and ex-partner Doreen Langham in a Browns Plains house fire had told police just days earlier that she had never had any reason to fear for her safety.

At an inquest into the horrible tragedy, the Southport coroner’s court was shown video footage of Gary Hely, 49, attending a police station to be issued with a temporary domestic violence order on February 11 last year.

Just 11 days later, both Hely and Ms Langham were dead, their bodies found in the burnt wreckage of his former partner’s townhouse.

The deaths came just hours after Ms Langham had made a triple-0 call to police warning that Hely was at her home and trying to get in the side gate.

In an eerie coincidence, the officer who talked Hely through the terms of the order, Constable Mitchell Langford, would be one of the police who attended Ms Langham’s home on the fateful night but left after a quick knock on the door which no one answered.

After being read through the terms of the order and asked whether he understood what was required of him, Hely said he understood but there was “no reason” for it.

“I’m just shocked,” he said.

“There’s never been any violence.

“She’s never had to fear for her safety.

Gary Hely signed a DVO just 11 days before killing his ex Doreen Langham.

“I’ve known her for 33 years – she’s my sister’s best friend.

“I’m not happy to walk away because I love her, but she has ended it and I’ve picked up my stuff and left and now we need to go our own ways.”

It comes as Ms Langham’s next door neighbour has recalled her terrifying final moments as she screamed for help just before she was killed by her ex-partner.

Ms Langham’s neighbour was playing video games into the small hours of the morning in February last year when he called triple-0 because he “knew something horrible had happened”.

On Tuesday he told the inquest that he heard a window smash before he took his noise cancelling headphones off to listen closer to what was happening next door.

He described hearing a window smash, muffled cries and a noise that sounded like someone being thrown through a door.

“Towards the end I heard a female voice yelling and screaming for help,” he said.

He went outside for a closer look and called triple-0 as he saw Ms Langham’s townhouse erupting in flames.

He said the whole ordeal from hearing the first loud smash to the emergency phone call was about 10 minutes.

Doreen Langham

Earlier in the day’s proceedings, the Southport Coroner’s Court heard a rookie cop sent to a domestic violence alert at Ms Langham’s home just hours before she was killed has admitted he treated the assignment as an “unimportant and minor job”.

The officer, who cannot be named, has been grilled at an inquest into Ms Langham’s death for his response to the DV call-out on the night.

The court heard the officer did not research the criminal history of Ms Langham’s ex Gary Hely on the way to the call-out and did not inspect any rear doors or windows to see if anyone had broken into the home.

The officer and his partner then went to a local McDonald’s for a feed.

The fire at Doreen Langham’s townhouse.

He told the inquest he assumed there would have been more triple-0 calls if the situation had escalated.

Barrister Paula Morreau, representing Ms Langham’s daughter, suggested his actions on the night – which included only a cursory effort to see whether she was okay, suggested he and his partner had treated the call as “an unimportant and minor job”.

“At the time, yes,” he answered.

“I suppose so, yes.”

The young officer, one of two dispatched to the incident, told the inquest he had received “fast-tracked” DV training at the police academy due to issues with the coronavirus pandemic.

“From memory we did it in a week shorter than normal because of Covid,” he said.

“I didn’t feel like there was much hands-on.

“More time was on reading legislation than practising scenarios.”

The inquest was shown video footage from the young officer’s body-worn camera, which showed only a brief door knock and a cursory inspection of the property to see if Ms Langham was awake or even alive.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Ben Jackson, asked why more effort wasn’t made to see if Ms Langham was okay.

“This is pretty basic policing,” Mr Jackson said.

“Why did you not take any further steps to see if Ms Langham was awake?”

“I’m not sure,” replied the officer.

The aftermath of the fire. Picture: Brad Fleet

He was also asked why he didn’t check the side gate of the property when Ms Langham’s call to police stated she had heard a person she believed to be her ex trying to open her side gate.

“I’m not sure,” answered the officer.

He also failed to look up the criminal history of the alleged offender before arriving at the property and thought he was dealing with more of a prowling or loitering situation.

He told the inquest he didn’t know how to properly use the computer program that would allow him to look up someone’s criminal history.

Asked whether he had just assumed everything was okay because police had not received any more calls from Ms Langham, he said: “I’m not 100 (per cent) what my thinking was at the time”.