A CORONER will hear evidence over potential failings that may have led to a fatal stabbing in a Poundland store, after a widow won her fight for answers.

Gulsen Alkan has succeeded in her battle to resume the inquest of her late husband Justin Skrebowski, who was killed while shopping for balloons on her birthday.

Oxfordshire coroner Darren Salter notified the North Oxford widow last year that he planned to close the inquest, after paranoid schizophrenic Trevor Joyce was jailed for manslaughter.

But Mrs Alkan pushed to finish inquest proceedings, claiming authorities made a catalogue of errors in the run-up to Joyce’s attack in the Abingdon store on December 7, 2015.

The mother of twins said: “It wasn’t just Joyce’s fault, he was sick. I want to see if people did their job properly. I’m doing this for the kids, so when they grow up they can say ‘mummy really did what she could’ and didn’t just sit and watch.”

Her persistence has triggered pre-inquest review at Oxford Coroner’s Court on May 4, prior to a full inquest.

It will come exactly a week after Joyce is due to appeal his life sentence on April 27.

Mrs Alkan, 40, believes healthcare practitioners and police were partly to blame for allowing Joyce to kill.

Last year she showed the Oxford Mail a confidential report by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, responsible for mental health.

It listed claims alleging Joyce had told his doctor he ‘could not guarantee’ he would not attack his neighbours with a knife, and that he cut his wrists in the same Poundland days before the attack, telling his doctor he had wanted to stab someone.

Joyce, of Franklyn Close in Abingdon, was on bail when he stabbed 61-year-old Mr Skrebowski in the Bury Street branch.

Thames Valley Police spokesman Gareth Ford-Lloyd said: “We have provided information to assist in the inquest and are fully supportive of this process.”

Joyce, 37, was sentenced at the Old Bailey in June for manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility.

The court heard how he was discharged from Littlemore Mental Health Centre weeks before the attack, against his doctor’s advice.

He was given a life sentence and allowed to apply for parole after nine years - but plans appeal his sentence at the Court of Appeal.

Mrs Alkan, who now runs her husband’s picture framing business, said: “We are trying to cope but that pain will double if they reduce his sentence – I will lose belief in the judgement.”

She hoped the inquest would give her the chance to question authorities, adding: “I want to help others and make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

She said the tragedy has left a ‘big gap’ her life and that of their four-year-old twins Enes and Rosy, adding: “I miss Justin terribly. My son prays to God to wake his daddy up, though he knows he is not sleeping.”

Chris Kearney, a spokesman for the health trust, said: “Once again we would like to offer our condolences, sympathy and support to Mr Skrebowski’s family.

"We have now concluded our own thorough review and taken action to address recommendations coming out of this, and await the outcome of an independent review commissioned by NHS England to identify any further learning.”

The report has not yet been published publicly.

Mr Skrebowski’s inquest was opened in December 2015 but adjourned during criminal proceedings. It is the coroner’s decision whether to resume.