Doreen Langham inquest told her final moments full of terror

An inquest into the killing of a woman south of Brisbane last year has heard how police responding to her multiple pleas for help went to McDonald’s when she didn’t answer, just hours before her death, with one of the officers involved making an emotional apology in court.

Police doorknocked domestic violence murder victim Doreen Langham just hours before she and her ex-partner died in a house fire and then went to McDonald’s when she didn’t answer, an inquest has heard.

One of the officers who did the brief check made an emotional apology to the Coroners Court, saying it was a ‘terrible’ tragedy.

He said he was ‘very sorry’ he did not do more to save Ms Langham and police had to ‘do better to stop this happening again’.

Doreen Langham died in a fire at her Browns Plains unit.

Ms Langham and her ex Gary Hely, both 49, died in a fire in her Browns Plains townhouse in the early hours of February 22 last year after she made multiple pleas to police for help and finally got a domestic violence order against him.

Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley is probing the adequacy of the police response to Ms Langham’s final Triple 0 call and her pleas for help in a bid to prevent another similar tragedy.

The Coroners Court was played body-worn camera footage of two police officers doing a cursory doorknock of Ms Langham’s house several hours after she made the Triple 0 call to report that Hely was at the residence.

One of the officers who attended said he treated it as a ‘prowler incident’ and believed she may have been seeing a shadow, despite the fact that Hely had repeatedly breached the DVO.

He said he and his partner did not try to wake Ms Langham or gain entry to the townhouse and went to McDonald’s for a meal, briefly checking for Hely’s vehicle on the way out.

A few hours later, Ms Langham and Hely were dead.

The fire at the Browns Plains unit. Pic Nikita Rush

The officer, one of several police witnesses whose names have been suppressed at the inquest for unknown reasons, became emotional when grilled by barristers about the police handling of the incident by barristers for the Coroner and Ms Langham’s family.

“Obviously in hindsight we could have done a lot more and I’m very sorry,” he told the court, where Ms Langham’s family was in the public gallery.

“We need to do better to stop this happening again.”

Earlier in the day, the inquest heard Ms Langham’s partner told her she had three weeks to live after she ended the relationship in a warning that would send ‘a chill down anyone’s spine’.

The inquest was told that Ms Langham’s last moments before she and her ex Gary Hely died in a Browns Plains unit fire in February last year “must have been filled with utter terror”.

The inquest was played body-worn camera footage of a police interview with an ‘extremely frightened’ Ms Langham at her friend’s house at Marsden on February 7.

She told the two officers that Hely had told her she had better enjoy the next three weeks because she could be ‘T-boned, sniper shot or bashed’.

. Investigators comb through the fire ruins by shovel and hand. PICTURE: Brad Fleet

Ms Langham told police that there was “pure venom” in Hely’s voice when he warned her: “Enjoy the next three f--king weeks”.

She also told the officers that Hely had “smashed stuff in the house”, put holes in the wall, bombarded her with up to 30 texts a day and took photos of her while she was sleeping which “creeped me out”.

But despite this, police did not immediately take out a protection notice for Ms Langham, the inquest heard.

A female police officer who was involved in the investigation broke down as she was questioned about the tragedy, forcing the inquest to be briefly adjourned.

Deputy Coroner Jane Bentley is probing the adequacy of the police response to Ms Langham’s Triple 0 call the night before the fire.

She is also examining the adequacy of the police response to Ms Langham’s complaints about Mr Hely, and will recommend whether any changes to procedures or policies are needed to prevent a similar tragedy.

The inquest heard that after enduring “many months of abusive and controlling behaviour”, Ms Langham had “had enough” and ”the relationship was over”.

After receiving the chilling death threat from Hely, she reluctantly contacted police and was advised not to return home, so she went to a friend’s place at Marsden where police attended.

The inquest heard that Gary Hely had likely forced his way into Doreen Langham’s home with five litres of petrol. File picture: Tara Croser.

But the inquest heard their actions was “representative of so many inadequacies” in the police response and Ms Langham’s complaints were “not properly investigated”.

“She knew the dangers and the risk that Hely presented and as the days went by, she did all she could to bring Hely to account and to try to get him to stop,” the counsel assisting the Coroner, Ben Jackson, told the court.

But Mr Jackson said Hely “had a plan … and that plan actually came about”.

He said Hely had stayed close to Ms Hely’s townhouse and on the February 22, had most likely forced his way in with five litres of petrol.

Mr Jackson said the precise details of Ms Langham’s final moments were unclear.

“One thing is clear … Ms Langham’s final moments must have been filled with terror,” he told the court.