Lorraine Cox: Father’s emotional plea leads to more CCTV staffing

Extra staff will be employed at a CCTV control centre in Devon following a plea by the father of a woman who was murdered on a night out.

Lorraine Cox, 32, was walking home in Exeter when she was killed by Azam Mangori, 24, in his flat above a kebab shop in September 2020.

He is serving life in prison, with a minimum term of 20 years.

Three more staff will join the control room team to avoid employees "having to lone work in emergency situations".

They will join nine people already employed in full-time positions.

It follows a full meeting of the city council in February, where Mr Cox asked for funding to be found for more staff after being told there were not always two people on duty.

Mr Cox pushed for the changes which are now being implemented in the hope "there will never be another Lorraine".

He previously said more staff in the control room would mean "people would be able to walk the streets and feel safe".

Mr Cox said he would "not stop fighting for justice" for his daughter, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported.

He was told that five more staff - at a cost of £155,000 - would be needed to ensure there were always two on shift, accounting for holiday, unforeseen absence, and sickness.

The city council will use an extra £87,000 in government funding to pay for the new employees.

There will also be a £550,000 upgrade and extension to the existing CCTV network, funded by a grant from the Home Office and set to be completed by September.

A report to the council's executive this week admitted that the current level of staffing "does not necessarily offer the appropriate level of service resilience, particularly in instances of short notice sickness ahead of a night shift."

It added: "Additional staff resource at night and over weekends would dramatically reduce any instances of staff having to lone work in emergency situations."

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