Inquest into the Death of Lynn Marie CANNON
Inquest into the Death of Lynn Marie CANNON
Delivered on : 23 July 2025
Delivered at : Perth
Finding of : Deputy State Coroner Linton
Recommendations : N/A
Orders/Rules : N/A
Suppression Order : N/A
Summary : On 5 December 2022 Lynn Cannon was fatally stabbed by her estranged husband Paul Cannon. Paul Cannon pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Western Australia to one charge of murder in relation to Ms Cannon’s death and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
On the day of Lynn’s death, family members had raised concerns with the WA Police Force as they had not heard from her for several hours, which was unusual. Lynn had last been in contact with family or friends when she was driving to Paul Cannon’s home. Lynn’s sister requested that police be sent to Paul Cannon’s home to check on her welfare as there had been an incident that morning where Paul had threatened Lynn with a knife. For various reasons, police did not attend Paul Cannon’s home immediately, and by the time police arrived Lynn had already died.
An internal inquiry conducted by WA Police established that there were a number of reasons for the delay in police attendance at Paul Cannon’s home: there had been an unanticipated surge in triple zero calls to police and requests for police attendance that night that put a strain on resources, police officers had downgraded the initial priority of the job task and officers had been redirected to attend Lynn’s home first, to make sure she hadn’t returned home.
Due to the contact between Lynn’s family and police on the day of Lynn’s death and the concerns raised about the actions of the police and the adequacy of the police response, the State Coroner determined that the matter fell within the scope of s 22(1)(b) of the Coroners Act 1996 and an inquest was mandatory to consider whether the actions of any member of the police force could be said to have caused or contributed to the death.
Evidence was led at the inquest from a number of police officers who had been involved in speaking to Lynn’s family members on the relevant night and allocating resources to the welfare check job task that was created. Evidence was also led from a number of high level policy witnesses from the WA Police Force in relation to changes made to the way emergency calls are dealt with, as a result of the internal inquiry into this case, and how WA Police are making changes to the way they train officers to respond to cases of reported family and domestic violence (FDV) and how victim survivors, their supporters and the wider community, can be empowered to report incidents of FDV. Further, two experts gave evidence about the State Government’s Family Violence Taskforce and the Family and Domestic Violence (5 year) System Reform Plan that has been developed as a result, as well as other steps that are planned to assist the community to work together to respond to FDV and reduce the harm it causes.
The Coroner found that Lynn Cannon died from sharp force injuries to the chest and that her death occurred by way of unlawful homicide. The Coroner noted the significant work that has been done by WA Police and the WA Government in response to the concerning increase in the incidence of FDV in the community and made comments in support of that ongoing work without making any specific recommendations.
Catch Words : Unlawful Homicide: Family and Domestic Violence
Last updated: 5 August 2025