Ex-partner wanted by Victoria police when he murdered Noeline Dalzell, inquest hears

A man who fatally stabbed his ex-partner in front of their three children was wanted by police for months, but they didn’t arrest him until she was dead.

An inquest into the 2020 death of Noeline Dalzell is investigating how police and other state government services failed to protect her and their three teenage children from James Fairhall, despite his long history of family violence.

Victoria’s state coroner, John Cain, heard Dalzell met Fairhall in 2002 and their relationship quickly turned violent, which escalated after the birth of their third child.

He reached over their children to inflict a fatal stab wound to her neck, before their son bravely intervened and tackled him to the ground, the inquest heard.

She told the inquest that his transient lifestyle and active avoidance of police made it hard for officers to track him down, despite numerous calls to Crime Stoppers between his release and subsequent arrest.

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