The families of two women killed by the same man are preparing to go public this week with a campaign demanding police accountability, after a series of failures they believe allowed their killer to strike twice — and left one victim’s body still missing nearly two years on.
Naomi Hunte, 41, was found stabbed to death at her home in Woolwich on Valentine’s Day 2022. Her killer, Carl Cooper, was arrested four days later but released on bail. Sixteen months later, Cooper murdered his next partner, Fiona Holm, 48, from Catford in south-east London. Cooper was jailed for life in July 2024 with a minimum term of 35 years for both murders. Holm’s body has never been found.
Ten Metropolitan Police officers who had contact with the two women are now facing potential misconduct proceedings under an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Among the specific incidents under examination is an assault complaint Holm made against Cooper approximately two months before he killed her. Cooper was arrested but not charged. A subsequent review found that a more thorough investigation at that stage could have identified key witnesses and built a case without relying on Holm’s testimony.
Also under scrutiny is an anonymous tip-off received by police days after Holm’s disappearance, in which a caller identified Cooper as responsible for her death. The call was recorded as a hoax. Holm’s family understand the caller had a Jamaican accent.
Holm’s daughter, Savannah Holm-Aderemi, said the inaction had directly cost the family the chance to recover her mother’s remains. She and her aunt Elise Skillen say it was only after they discovered Cooper selling Holm’s clothing — two weeks into her disappearance — that officers finally made an arrest. By then, Cooper had stripped and redecorated his living room, disposing of carpets, curtains and wallpaper.
Naomi Hunte’s father, Basil, said he believed discrimination had influenced how seriously police treated his daughter’s case. He said he did not think she had been considered important and felt a white woman in the same position would have seen her attacker removed from the streets far sooner.
The families’ solicitor Sophie Naftalin said both women had been failed in life and in death, and called for a robust investigation that also addressed whether discrimination had played a part in how they were treated. Both Hunte and Holm were from African-Caribbean backgrounds and had mental health conditions.
Pragna Patel, co-director of Project Resist, which is supporting the families, said the case could not be viewed in isolation and pointed to repeated patterns of similar failures in domestic abuse cases across the country. She said it was difficult to reach any conclusion other than that race, sex and disability discrimination had played a significant role.
The campaign launches three years after a review by Baroness Casey found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, and concluded that units responsible for protecting women and girls had been systematically de-prioritised. The force is currently undergoing a further reinspection chaired by Dr Gillian Fairfield.
Commander Paul Brogden of the Met’s Homicide Command said the force had always acknowledged it made mistakes in handling allegations against Cooper and expressed sincere apologies to both families. He confirmed the IOPC investigation was ongoing and said the Met was providing its full support to the process.
The Met has previously offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Holm’s body. Her family say communication since then has been poor and they remain uncertain whether the dismissed tip-off caller has ever been traced. They are continuing to appeal for anyone with information to come forward, saying they need to be able to give Fiona Holm a proper burial.
