Family demand answers over woman’s ‘brutal’ killing at Travelodge
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The family of a hotel receptionist “brutally” killed by a man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia have said they “desperately need answers” as to how the attack could have happened as an inquest begins into her death. Spanish national Marta Elena Vento, 27, was working at the Travelodge in Christchurch Road in Bournemouth, Dorset, when she was killed by Stephen Cole with a set of hair-clippers on December 9 2020.
Mr Cole, then 32, who had been released from prison in October that year, pleaded guilty to her manslaughter through diminished responsibility and has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. Sentencing him at Winchester Crown Court in June 2021, Judge Angela Morris highlighted the “irreversible failures” made by those who did not spot his deteriorating psychiatric state in the weeks beforehand.
Speaking ahead of the inquest starting on Monday, a family statement read by their lawyer, Benjamin Burrows, from Leigh Day, said: “Four years have passed since Marta was brutally taken from us. “Now we desperately need answers about how such a brutal assault can have happened and whether it could have been prevented.”.
Of Ms Elena Vento, the statement added: “She was the source of joyfulness to our family. She was an inspiration, our pride and hope, a true friend who loved to share her life and her happiness. “She was strong, tenacious, hard-working and active. Without her we are no longer the same people.”.
