A desperately afraid woman murdered by her abusive former partner would still be alive if not for the "catastrophic failure" of Queensland police, a coroner has been told.
Doreen Langham died at the hands of former partner Gary Hely, both 49, in a fire in her Browns Plains townhouse, south of Brisbane, on February 22, 2021.
The loving grandmother had ended a toxic and abusive two-year relationship with Mr Hely, and was scared and alone.
She knew he was dangerous.
He had made chilling threats against her life, warning that her days were numbered with "three weeks left to live".
Queensland University of Technology criminologist Kerry Carrington said Queensland police repeatedly failed Ms Langham.
Prof Carrington compiled a detailed report on Ms Langham's interactions with police before her murder.
The report revealed Ms Langham spoke to at least 16 different police officers in the five days before she was killed.
Ms Langham begged for police so often in those final days, she was turned away and advised to only report breaches of her domestic violence order against Mr Hely once a week, the academic said.
"All but one of those officers failed her - none took her seriously," Prof Carrington told the Coroners Court at Southport on Wednesday.
"Huge amounts of information that could have been used to save her either slipped through the cracks or were misinterpreted.
"There was just error after error. It was a calamity of errors."
The report also revealed officers failed to even understand existing domestic violence legislation and lacked the skill or knowledge to save Ms Langham.
Prof Carrington was scathing of the police response to Ms Langham's fears and complaints.
"It is a systemic institutional issue that goes to the core of police culture and police training.
"It culminated in a catastrophic failure."
On the night she died, Ms Langham saw a shadow lurking outside her home and knew it was Mr Hely and called for help.
Police logged the emergency call but, despite documented death threats by Mr Hely, classified the job as a possible prowler.
Prof Carrington said that response alone failed to meet basic policing standards.
"Had they assumed it was prowler, had they knocked on the door, rang her, called her, knocked on the neighbour's door or done a little bit of basic policing, Doreen Langham could still be alive."
Earlier, a domestic violence support worker told the court that Ms Langham "did everything right" to protect herself.
"I did everything I possibly could with Doreen. It's hard ... very simply she has done everything right," Ines Ilijasevic from specialist domestic service The Centre for Women & Co said.
Not only did Ms Langford engage with specialist DV services, she repeatedly reached out to police for protection.
She changed the locks and had a full safety audit conducted at her home.
Ms Ilijasevic said more security upgrades could have been made with additional funding.
"But if you go with the logic, we should all go home tonight and make sure that our houses are Fort Knox and hope that we don't get robbed.
"It seems to always put that responsibility on her ... I think we should hold perpetrators accountable for what they do and what they have done."
Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley is probing the adequacy of the police response to Ms Langham's final triple-zero call and her pleas for help in a bid to prevent another similar tragedy.
She is also examining the response to the complaints against Mr Hely.
The inquest earlier examined police camera footage of Mr Hely claiming to be shocked to be served with a domestic violence order.
He appeared to accept the order calmly, but argued Ms Langham had "nothing to fear", and he still loved her.
Days later, they were both dead.
Mr Hely broke in and doused the home they once shared with petrol before setting it alight.
The inquest continues.
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