Elise Skillen says her family had already spent two weeks pleading with police to do more to find her missing sister Fiona Holm when they made a disturbing discovery.

She recounts how they had gone to the home of Holm's boyfriend, a man called Carl Cooper, and found him in the act of selling her clothes.

Skillen says: "If you love someone, why would you be selling their clothes if they're missing? I knew in that moment, he's done something to my sister."

Holm, 48, from Catford in south-east London, disappeared in June 2023.

Skillen says her family repeatedly asked the police for help, telling them Holm was vulnerable, with the mental age of a 15-year-old, and voicing concerns over her partner Cooper, 66, who had previously attacked Holm with a screwdriver.

She says they told officers they were suspicious that Cooper had repainted the outside of his windows and he had been spotted burning items in his back garden.

"They said, 'Well it's not a crime to burn rubbish in your garden'."

But Skillen, along with Holm's daughter, Savannah Holm-Aderemi, were deeply worried.

"We felt hopeless," says Holm-Aderemi, describing how they took turns carrying out searches of the streets themselves.

She says it was only after the family caught Cooper selling her mother's clothes, two weeks later, that Cooper was arrested.

In July 2024, he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years for the murders of Holm and a previous girlfriend, 41-year-old Naomi Hunte.

Hunte had been found repeatedly stabbed at her home in Woolwich on Valentine's Day in 2022 - 16 months before Holm disappeared.

Cooper was arrested on suspicion of Hunte's murder but released on bail.

His trial at Woolwich Crown Court heard how both women had previously complained to police about his controlling and coercive behaviour and how, after Holm went missing, Cooper had stripped his living room, getting rid of curtains, carpets and wallpaper.

Holm's body has still not been found.

Skillen says her sister had had no idea that Cooper was under investigation for the murder of a previous partner and officers had missed chances to help her.

"If they sat and listened to her they would've known, there's something not right here," she says.

"They should've done a background check on him. Why not something so simple?"

The families of both women are preparing to launch a campaign on Wednesday calling for police to be held to account for failings in the investigation and for support to find Holm's body.

Holm-Aderemi says: "You gave him two weeks to get rid of the body, to change his whole front room round. Should have listened at the start, maybe we could have had my mum's body."

Ten police officers who had contact with the women are currently facing potential misconduct proceedings under an investigation by the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Among the incidents being examined is a report of assault Holm made to officers against Cooper about two months before he murdered her. The Met said Cooper had been arrested but not charged.

A review into the management of her complaint concluded "a more thorough investigation could have identified key witnesses, who could have provided strong evidence for a victimless prosecution against Cooper".

Also under investigation is an anonymous call, made days after Holm's murder, tipping police off that Cooper had killed her, which was marked as a hoax. Holm's family understand that the caller had a Jamaican accent.

The IOPC has said the serving of conduct notices does not necessarily mean disciplinary proceedings will follow.

The families' solicitor Sophie Naftalin, from Bhatt Murphy, says Hunte and Holm had been "failed in both life and death".

"Without Naomi and Fiona's families calling out these institutions many of the failings in the case would remain without any scrutiny," she adds. "This is not good enough."

She is calling for a "robust investigation" which also "adequately addresses the extent to which discrimination may have played a part in their treatment".

Hunte and Holm were both from African-Caribbean backgrounds and had mental health conditions.

Pragna Patel, co-director of the group Project Resist which is supporting the families' campaign, says the investigation must consider not just the actions of individual officers, but also examine "systemic and structural failings".

"These women were vulnerable," she says. "It's difficult for us to come to any other conclusion than that race, sex and disability discrimination played a huge role in how they were perceived and in how they were failed ultimately.

"And it's important for the police to dispel these views that we have in public if that's not the case."

Skillen says: "I feel like vulnerable people and black people are being let down by the police."

Hunte's father, Basil, also believes discrimination played a part.

"If they had done their job, I think my daughter would have been still here today," he says.

"She wasn't important to them. I think if it was a white person, a white young female, I think they would have got that man probably put away at the time. But she was just another black girl, so who cares?"

Patel says the struggle Holm's family faced in raising the alarm over her disappearance has disturbing echoes of police failings in the case of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, who were murdered in Wembley, north-west London, in 2020.

Their bodies were found by Smallman's boyfriend after a missing persons' log was incorrectly closed and inquiries were not progressed by police.

This weekend marks three years since a review by Baroness Casey found the Met to be institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, and highlighted a culture of ableism in some units.

It found that the teams tasked with protecting women and girls had been de-prioritised.

The Met, which is currently being reinspected under a new review chaired by Dr Gillian Fairfield, has said it is making "good progress" in reforming the force's culture and standards.

It has previously highlighted the removal of more than 1,500 rogue officers and staff since 2022 and work such as the V100 project, which uses data to target the most dangerous predators.

"That's just talk," Hunte says, when asked about such reforms. "It's every year you hear the same thing: 'We learn from this, we learn from that.'

"Before this happened, I had, let's say, confidence in the police. I tried to stay on the good side of the law. But after this, I sat down and I thought, 'hey, what's really going on?'"

Holm-Aderemi is also dismissive of the Met's reassurances.

"Making good progress for what? Doing what? Because I ain't seen nothing. It's unacceptable. It's just excuses after excuses after excuses," she says.

Both families feel they need to raise their concerns over fears other women are at risk.

Patel says: "We see these patterns repeated up and down the country. There's a systemic problem with the policing of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, despite all the changes that are said to have taken place."

The Met has previously offered a £20,000 reward as part of an appeal to recover Holm's body, however Skillen and Holm-Aderemi have criticised a lack of communication since then.

They say it is unclear if the caller, who was dismissed as a hoax, has been identified or could provide more information.

They have appealed for anyone who can help them to come forward, saying they desperately need to be able to lay her to rest.

Skillen says her sister was "the funniest person, kind, caring" and looked after everyone.

"She always put people first," adds Holm-Aderemi.

It was Holm's kindness and vulnerability that they fear Cooper preyed on.

Hunte, who describes his daughter as "very bubbly and helpful", says he has still not come to terms with how she died.

"I'm not the person that I used to be," he says. "I get up some days, and to be honest, I wish that I wasn't here. I walk down the street, I see a young lady who, more or less, closely resembles my daughter.

"It hurts. I have to carry this burden for the rest of my life."

Cdr Paul Brogden, responsible for the Met's Homicide Command, said: "Our thoughts will always remain with Naomi Hunte and Fiona Holm, and we again extend our sincere condolences to their families as they continue to grieve for these two beloved women.

"We have always been clear that we made mistakes when dealing with allegations against Carl Cooper. For those mistakes we are extremely sorry.

"These matters are currently the subject of an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). As part of that investigation, 10 officers have been served with misconduct notices.

"We continue to provide every support to the IOPC investigation."

The force said it continued to have contact with Holm's family via their dedicated family liaison officer and would update them with any developments in its ongoing investigation to find her body.

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