Express & Star

'No mother should have to suffer like this' - a family's fight for justice

The family of murdered nurse Lisa Skidmore have vowed to stop at nothing to get answers to questions that still haunt them about the months that led up to her savage death.

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Pictured are l-r Jim Skidmore, Alison Parker, Lisa's mum Margaret Skidmore, Joyce Skidmore and Irene Cheshire .

They also revealed they have launched a £10,000 fund to send youngsters to Disneyland in memory of the Disney-mad district nurse who 'adored children'.

Her killer Leroy Campbell, 56, warned a probation officer six weeks previously that he felt like raping someone. Police subsequently visited him twice but were reassured when he told them the feelings had passed.

But Mrs Skidmore said: "The probation service and MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) are a waste of space. Time after time they get it wrong and never learn from their mistakes. I hope the person he told he wanted to rape again sleeps at night - because I can't.

"And why didn't Wolverhampton Police do anything? It seems everybody was turning a blind eye to a lot of things."

Lisa's brother Jim Skidmore and three sisters Alison Parker, Joyce Skidmore and Irene Cheshire have enlisted the help of Government minister Gavin Williamson in their bid to unravel how her killer, already a convicted rapist with a history of similar attacks, was allowed the freedom to do it again.

Mrs Parker, of Finchfield, said: "When we found out he'd been released from a life sentence after a similar attack we were appalled.

"The police gave us his name and said it was up to us if we wanted to research his background. We were devastated because we felt Lisa's death could have been prevented if people had done their jobs better.

"The judge who jailed him for life previously called him 'a danger to womenfolk' and said he hadn't learned any lessons from his previous sentences.

"How can he have been allowed out again to roam free to do it again? He asked for help,he should have been sent to hospital, or at least been tagged or put under curfew."

The retired clinical nurse specialist who was based at New Cross Hospital said: "If I didn't do my job properly, people could have died. People in positions of responsibility have to be held accountable."

Lisa Skidmore had visited Disneyland four times and had a collection of several hundred figurines and other related memorabilia, revealed her family, who have launched a crowd-funding appeal, Magic Moments, to send youngsters to the Paris theme park. It has already raised £1,500.

Mrs Parker, 57, said: "She adored children and was a natural caring and loving person. Her life was brutally cut short but we're hoping to honour Lisa's memory by combining three things that she loved: children, making people happy and Disney.

"Lisa can't go anymore but we hope other children, who might not otherwise get the chance to have a holiday like this, can enjoy the magic that Lisa so loved."

Friends have rallied round making homemade candles and pieces of jewellery that will be sold through the Magic Moments page towards the appeal.

Among Lisa's Disney paraphernalia were porcelain models dating back to the 1930s which she kept in a glass cabinet at her Mill Croft home.

The family hope to send one or more children, depending on how much is raised, to Disneyland Paris next year. Only youngsters from Bilston, where Lisa lived, will be considered.

Lisa's colleagues released balloons featuring Micky Mouse, her favourite Disney character, into the sky following her funeral at Bow Street Methodist Church, Bilston, last month.

Dozens of medical staff were among the mourners, including two retired consultants who travelled from Italy and Wales to attend the service. Nurses lined the street to applaud the cortege as it passed.

Mrs Skidmore, who described her daughter as 'very private', said she would have hated the publicity surrounding her death.

She said: "But I'm doing it for Lisa. It's hard to carry on living knowing that it needn't have happened. I don't want any other mother to suffer like I have, and still do."