A heartbroken family has shared a photo of their "beloved daughter" whose death "should not have happened".
Rebecca Cooke was on a lunchtime walk near her home on Court Hey Road in Huyton on March 1, 2021 when she was hit by a scrambler yob. Tragically, the 26-year-old died from her injuries on March 3, at the Walton Centre after she was declared brain dead.
Daniel King was seen speeding before turning a corner and swerving onto the pavement to avoid an oncoming police car. As he mounted the pavement he crashed into Rebecca who suffered "catastrophic" injuries after being "thrown into a brick wall".
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Last week an inquest was held where it was heard Ms Cooke's injuries were "un-survivable" after being hit by the bike. The two-day inquest heard concerns over a "lack of engagement" between King and the probation service.
King had warrants out for his arrest dating back from June 2020 for driving whilst disqualified in North Wales and failing to appear before crown court in Preston. Amanda Hamilton, then interchange manager for Merseyside CRC, said there "should've been some contact" with King and the probation service but there had not been due to a number of factors including staff sickness.
Following the inquest, the heartbroken family said Rebecca had been "failed" as they said in a statement: "It was bad enough to lose Rebecca the way we did, but to then find out that the Probation Service had failed in supervising Daniel King and could have prevented it from happening, was utter disbelief.
"We were not prepared for what came out of the Serious Offence Review and to be told by the head of the North Liverpool Probation Service just how bad the failings were. We believe that Rebecca’s death was a direct and foreseeable consequence of all the failings made by Daniel King’s probation officer and the Probation Service managers."
They added King was a "prolific offender" as they said: "His last conviction was for stealing a motor vehicle, driving at speeds of more than 100mph, and driving up a dual carriageway the wrong way to evade the police. Was this not a big red flag?
"Rebecca paid the price because the Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Centre and the Probation Service had failed her. They had numerous opportunities to have Daniel King recalled to prison but over and over again they failed to act. He had reoffended and broken his licence conditions so many times.
"If the Probation Service had done its job, he would have been back in prison long before he killed Rebecca and our daughter would still be with us. Her death should not have happened, and her life was cruelly taken away from her while on a simple walk in her lunch break. She suffered horrific injuries, and we have to live with the loss of our beloved daughter and with those lasting images of her in hospital."
The family added: "We are angry and frustrated by the Probation Service. All its failings only came to light because an innocent person was killed and there was a serious investigation review. How many more offenders are out there not being monitored properly by the Probation Service and are a danger to the public? The Probation Service needs to make sure that this never happens again to another innocent person."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with Rebecca Cooke’s family and friends.
“Since this awful crime we have unified the Probation Service and injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year to deliver tougher supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safer.”
An initial post mortem examination gave a cause of death as severe head injuries. Senior coroner Julie Goulding confirmed the cause of death as severe head injuries as a result of a road traffic collision.
In a narrative conclusion, the coroner said Ms Cooke was the "innocent victim", adding: "Rebecca was hit by a motorcycle, being driven at high speed and catastrophically injured. As a direct consequence of the injuries she sustained, tragically Rebecca died in hospital two days after the collision."
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