ITV X Murder in the Family hears Susan Lynch's story

Susan Lynch, 52, from Benfleet, has shared her story in ITV X’s new A Murder in the Family documentary series on ITV tonight.

Video from A Murder in the Family - Thursday, January 5, exclusively on ITVX

Susan had split with her husband of 24 years Kieren Lynch after he spiralled into cocaine addiction.

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He appeared to be getting his life back on track but became threatening when Susan got together with another man - calling her and her family up to 80 times a day.

Police at the scene (Image: Essex Police)

The day before his attack, he threatened to kill one of his daughters and made abusive calls to Susan's mum Jennifer Cronin, 70, despite being on bail for a previous attack.

Susan Lynch (Image: ITV)

Terrified Susan called police six times in just 24 hours, but no arrest was made and Lynch was able to carry out the horrific torching just hours later in March 2018.

He doused Jennifer's face, head and back in petrol and set her on fire. He then engulfed the rest of his body in flames.

The family with their daughters (Image: Essex Police)

Kieren died later that evening at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford while Jennifer passed away 17 days later. 

“It was around drink, Kieran would change personality when he’d had a lot to drink,” Susan told the ITV film crews.

“It started with the odd pushing and sort of poking to my chest and the violence escalated over time.

“Gradually more force would be used. Sitting on my chest or pushing more onto my throat.

“He would be full of apology the next day, but there would always be a reason why he’d lost his temper.

“I was embarrassed, embarrassed that I didn’t do anything. I was embarrassed that I let that happen to me so I never really said anything to anybody.”

The week-long jury inquest into their deaths in January 2019 lasted for one week and concluded Jennifer was unlawfully killed while Lynch died by suicide.

One of Susan's daughters is interviewed in the film (Image: ITV)

Susan Lynch says she feels let down by how police handled the case.

Susan Lynch (Image: Essex Police)

In March 2019 the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) identified a ‘lack of clarity’ regarding breaches of domestic abuse offences and a lack of ‘positive action’ from officers.

Keiran Lynch (Image: ITV)

A domestic homicide review criticised the police for allowing Lynch to slip through the net and said his behaviour "amounted to stalking and should have been identified and pursued as such by police".

Jennifer Cronin (Image: Essex Police)

A jury inquest concluded Jennifer was unlawfully killed while Lynch died by suicide - but poor communication by Essex Police had been a factor.

Essex Police says the force has learnt from the case and made dramatic improvements to how it handles domestic violence and abuse since.

Detective Superintendent Stephen Jennings said: “Since Jennifer’s tragic death five years ago, domestic abuse crimes are falling, we have hundreds more officers who are dedicated to keeping people safe and catching criminals and we have invested significantly in our training and in specialist teams. 

“I have met Susan Lynch and apologised to her for what happened in 2018. I have personally invited her to come and talk to our new teams. We want to work together to make Essex an even safer place to live, and to make sure we prevent crimes in the future. We admire her and her family’s bravery in speaking-out about what Kieren Lynch did to her and to her family. That’s why we took part in the TV programme too.

“We have also reviewed our approach to the way we identify our highest risk Domestic Abuse perpetrators, building an evidence-backed database that looks at multiple markers, including jealousy, stalking and history of violence. We have built whole new teams to support victims and manage risks from perpetrators – we are a far stronger force than we were five years ago, in every way.