Demi Hannaway: Abuse victim's parents call for probe into death

Demi’s parents John and Helen Simpson at home in Airdrie.

The parents of a domestic abuse victim today call for a new investigation into her sudden death after claiming Demi Hannaway’s tragic end was written off as a suicide without being fully investigated.

They are urging ministers to order an immediate review after claiming the death of Demi Hannaway was never properly probed.

They say police were far too quick to decide young mum-of-two Demi, 23, had taken her own life in May 2021, despite knowing her violent partner had repeatedly attacked her.

Andrew Brown was later jailed for sending Demi abhorrent abuse and threats which were only discovered by her family after her death.

They believe his account of events leading to her death was never questioned by officers despite a number of inconsistencies.

Brown, 33, was jailed for 43 months at Airdrie Sheriff Court in May after he admitted threatening and abusive behaviour.

The evidence was found by one of Demi’s sisters, who accessed her social media following the young mum’s death. She discovered a torrent of abuse and threats from Brown spanning months, including one wishing Demi was dead.

Demi Hannaway’s death

Demi died around 6am on May 13, 2021 at the home she had shared with her partner for five years.

Her parents, Helen and John, are now calling for a new investigation after lodging a formal complaint, seen by The Sunday Post, detailing 32 alleged failures in how Police Scotland officers responded.

It accuses officers of deciding Demi had killed herself within minutes of arriving at her home while ignoring circumstances which should have demanded further investigation.

Helen said: “We are not asking Police Scotland to reopen the investigation into the death of our daughter because there was no investigation in the first place.

“We do not know what happened in her home that night but will never believe Demi took her own life.

“That is based on her character and personality but also on what we found in her home after her death and what we learned in the days and weeks afterwards.

“The police should have found and learned the same things but, instead, they arrived too late, left too soon, and failed our daughter in every possible way.”

She is urging Justice Secretary Angela Constance to order a review and instruct Police Scotland and the Crown Office to investigate Demi’s death as a potential crime.

Helen said: “We are not judge and jury but a judge and jury should have been given the opportunity to hear what happened that night and also what happened in the months and years leading up to it.

“Instead, police arrived at her home, instantly decided there were no suspicious circumstances, ignored all the evidence that there might have been, and were gone within hours.

“There was absolutely no investigation. There was absolutely no interest.

“They took every word of Brown’s account at face value and refused to even acknowledge, never mind investigate, any suggestion that Demi might not have killed herself.

“We cannot wait any longer for Police Scotland to pick over its formal response to each and every one of our complaints.

“What we want and what Demi deserves is the investigation that should have taken place four years ago. We ask the justice secretary to order an urgent review and tell Police Scotland to begin again.”

Police investigations

The suicide and apparent suicide of women involved with violent, controlling partners has come into sharp focus in recent years. Research suggests police have been either too quick to conclude they took their own lives or have failed to realise how domestic abuse led to their deaths.

In 2023, in a landmark ruling after a six-year fight by her family, an inquest decided the suicide of Kellie Sutton, 30, was an “unlawful killing” after she ended her life after months of abuse. After Demi’s death, officers accidently revealed to her parents that her partner was flagged on police files as an abuser after officers were called repeatedly to the couple’s home.

In 2019, Brown was convicted of grabbing and spitting on Demi, who was pregnant at the time, in the street after CCTV captured the attack.

The following year he was convicted of spitting on a police officer after being taken into custody at Coatbridge police station when officers had been called to the couple’s home.

Her parents had no idea of the threats and violence endured by their eldest daughter but she had confided in her sisters before swearing them to secrecy.

They would later reveal Demi had told them Brown had tried to throttle her two weeks before her death. She feared he was going to kill her in what she described as his most terrifying attack.

Her sisters had, it emerged, also witnessed Brown strangling Demi and spitting on her on another occasion. His violent and controlling behaviour was only revealed after her death, to the shock and despair of her parents.

Helen said: “We thought Demi always told us everything but she told us nothing at all about this. Her death broke our hearts but discovering all this has shattered them into a million pieces. We knew nothing but the police did because their own files showed how Demi had been attacked and terrorised. That alone should have been enough to ensure a proper investigation.”

Alleged failures

The Hannaways’ complaint, currently being investigated by Police Scotland’s Professional Standards Department, lists 32 alleged failures after officers responded to a 999 call.

The complaints range from officers taking almost an hour to reach the house to their apparently unquestioning acceptance of Brown’s account despite knowing his history of domestic violence.

The couple accuse officers of a litany of failure including accepting Brown’s description of finding Demi’s body in their bedroom and dismissing obvious inconsistencies as being due to his “trauma”.

Signs of violence – including punch marks on the fridge, specks of blood on the kitchen wall, Demi’s hair on the floor and a blood-soaked sheet later found by her family hidden in a wardrobe – were never investigated.

Her mobile phone, smashed and stripped of its SIM card, was only found under her bed by Demi’s family after police left the house.

John said: “There was absolutely no attempt to treat the house as a potential crime scene. The police arrived, spoke to Brown and, on his say-so, decided Demi had taken her own life.

“We live five minutes away and the very first officers sent to our home to tell us our daughter was dead asked if she had been suffering post-natal depression. That is how quickly they made up their minds. That is how quickly they failed Demi.”

The couple’s lawyer, Stuart Munro, of Livingstone Brown, said the police response had failed them and echoed their calls for Ms Constance to intervene.

He said: “Several years after the death of their daughter, John and Helen remain unclear on what actually happened. Serious failures in the police investigation meant apparently obvious lines of inquiry were not pursued. Demi’s parents do not believe the true impact of that violence and abuse has been recognised.

“I support the family’s call for these tragic events to be reviewed by the cabinet secretary for justice then thoroughly investigated to secure answers at last.”

Police Scotland said: “A complaint has been received and is being progressed by our Professional Standards Department. It would be inappropriate to comment further while this is ongoing and a response will be sent to the complainers in due course.”

‘Jury must decide what happened to Demi’

Andy Brown was sentenced to jail for attacks on Demi Hannaway.

Andrew Brown should have been charged over the death of Demi Hannaway whatever happened in the hours before, according to her parents.

They believe the prolonged violence and psychological abuse inflicted by her partner should have been investigated by Police Scotland under the guidance of the Crown Office.

Her father John said: “There was not the slightest attempt to investigate what happened on the night Demi died or the abuse she had endured before her death.

“Even if they had investigated then accepted Brown’s account, they should still have considered charging him over her death. Instead, they did nothing at all.”

The family’s calls for a new inquiry into Demi’s death come days after a trial in England when a man was cleared of driving his partner to suicide.

Ryan Wellings is the first man to be charged with the unlawful killing of his partner after Kiena Dawes, 23, took her own life blaming his violence.

The landscape gardener, from Lancashire, was found not guilty of manslaughter but guilty of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour after a trial at Preston Crown Court. He was jailed for six-and-half years.

Demi’s mother, Helen, said: “Brown should and could have been charged with causing the death of our daughter because of his violence towards her. A jury not police should have decided his guilt or innocence. They still could.”