Widow of scientist killed by mentally ill stranger accused police of delaying the inquest process
The widow of a renowned scientist, stabbed to death by a cannabis addicted psychotic, has accused the Metropolitan Police of adding to her heartache by delaying the inquest process.
Dr Jeroen Ensink, 41, was killed outside his north London home in December 2015, just 11 days after becoming a father.
It later emerged that his killer, 23-year-old Nigerian student, Femi Nandap, had previously been arrested for possessing knives and attacking a police officer, but had the charges dropped six days before stabbing Dr Ensink to death.
Mrs Ensink-Teich, 38, had been hoping that the inquest, which was due to begin on November 15, would provide her with an explanation as to why Nandap - who was mentally ill - was free to kill.
But the hearing has now been delayed until July next year, after the Metropolitan Police belatedly began misconduct proceedings against a number of officers in the case.
Mrs Ensink-Teich, who has had to fund her own legal costs by setting up a crowd sourcing page, also fears she may now run out of money before the process is complete.
Speaking from her home in the Netherlands, she said: "This is very distressing. I had been mentally prepared for the inquest to begin in November but now it will be another year of waiting before I can start to get some answers.
"It's appalling the way the police are reacting. It feels like they are looking for every reason to delay the inquest. Do they not care? Do they have something to hide? It does not make any sense to me."
The Metropolitan Police has not disclosed the nature of the misconduct proceedings, but told the coroner they would not be in a position to submit witness statements on behalf of the officers involved until the disciplinary investigation was complete.
Mrs Ensink-Teich’s lawyer, Charlotte Haworth Hird of Bindmans said: “It is very frustrating because the decision by the police to launch disciplinary proceedings at this late stage has means the whole hearing has had to be put back until next summer.
“Nadja deserves some answers and some closure on this process, but now she is going to have to put things on hold.”
Because of the alleged failings by the police and prosecutors in the case, the hearing is to be heard as an Article 2 inquest, meaning, Mrs Ensink-Teich should have been entitled to legal aid.
However her application was turned down by the Legal Aid Agency, meaning she has been forced to raise £30,000 through a crowdsourcing campaign.
She said she now fears that the extra hearings and the further delays will mean that the money will not be sufficient to cover the whole inquest process.
She said: "I am really worried about the money. The longer this goes on the more expensive it becomes. I hated asking for money to help fund this, but there was no other way.
"It is so unfair that I have to do that. The police and CPS, which I funded through my taxes, can afford to have the best legal representation, but I have to pay."
Her daughter, Fleur, is now 20-months old, and Mrs Ensink-Teich said she is determined to get to the bottom of what went wrong so she can provide her with some answers when she is old enough.
She said: "I find enormous joy in bringing up our daughter, but it just hurts so much that I can't share that with Jeroen. Nothing will ever bring him back.
"I am doing all this for her, because when the time is right I want to be able to give the answers she deserves.
"Also I want to try to ensure that no other family has to go through what we have suffered. If we can prevent another tragedy like this from happening, we will have achieved a lot."
Dr Ensink was originally from the Netherlands, but moved to the UK in 2008 after securing a job as a lecturer in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
An expert in sanitation and water management, the 41-year-old had worked in developing countries including Ethiopia, Senegal, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
Before his death he had been working with a project based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was aiming to tackle cholera.
He was killed outside their home by Nandap as he went to post cards informing relatives and friends about their birth of he and his wife’s first child.
It emerged that after being arrested on suspicion of knife offences, Nandap skipped bail and returned to his native Nigeria.
His sister then provided police with a letter detailing the extent of his mental illness, but when he returned to Britain he was granted bail.
On December 23 2015, prosecutors announced they were dropping the charges against him because there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
Six days later he stabbed Dr Ensink to death. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was sent to Broadmoor indefinitely.
:: You can visit the crowdsourcing page here
