The history of contact between police and a grandmother who died in a house fire after taking out a protection order will be scrutinised by one of Queensland’s top officers.
Tributes are flowing for 49-year-old Doreen Langham on social media pages that campaign against domestic violence.
Ms Langham has been named in media as a victim of Monday’s suspicious blaze, south of Brisbane, along with a 49-year-old man identified as her ex-partner Gary Hely.
“Despite what we’ve learned and seen in other instances such as Tara Brown and Hannah Clarke and her children, here we are again,” Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said on Wednesday.
“A person who is a victim of violence has needed to be protected, and we have not been able to protect her. We are not satisfied with that, and we will be relentless in trying to find out what has happened.”
Mr Gollschewski will lead the review with oversight from the crime and corruption commission.
He said he was confident the police response on the night of the fire was “as it should have been” based on available information.
“Our officers, including those officers on that night, they are going from one job to another. They are required on every occasion to try and make decisions around what the priority is that they have to deal with. And they do that very well,” he said.
Police are yet to formally identify the bodies found inside the blackened shell of a Browns Plains home and are awaiting the results of an autopsy.
Examination of the scene has now been finalised and police are in the process of collating CCTV.
On Monday, Acting Detective Inspector Daniel Cunningham said it could take investigators up to a week to prepare a report about the cause of the blaze.
He confirmed a temporary protection order was issued by Beenleigh Magistrates Court on February 9, without confirming any identities.
The investigation will be oversighted by the state coroner as a death in relation to a police investigation.