A mum-of-two fatally stabbed by her controlling ex in south London choose not to report his death threats as she thought police were "powerless" to stop him, an inquest heard.

Hospital secretary Emma Day, 33, was knifed five times by Mark Morris as she walked home from school with her daughter in West Norwood in May 2017 following a row over child maintenance payments.

She suffered two wounds to her neck, was stabbed twice in the back and once on the back side of her upper left leg. One of the blows struck on Eylewood Road cut through her heart.

News Shopper: Eylewood Road (Robin Drayton)

Morris, then 39, pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life in December that year.

A review into the murder of Miss Day, who had worked as a receptionist on the neuroscience ward at King’s College Hospital in south London, said the management of her case was "inadequate" with wider systemic issues.

Relatives criticised the "blasé" approach from child maintenance services after Miss Day raised concerns over Morris' violent threats.

He had told her he would go to prison before she or their daughter got a penny off him and that their six-year-old daughter would 'have no mother' if she carried on with her maintenance claim.

A year before she was killed, she approached police over threats and abuse she suffered from him, but the force had not arrested him.

Miss Day's sister Lorna McNamara called for a full inquest into her death which was suspended in June 2017 and discontinued six months later.

The full inquest, which began today, heard Miss Day had been walking home with her daughter and a friend after finding out Morris was in the area.

The pair had one daughter together from an eight-year relationship which ended in 2016.

The single mum was deep in debt and made a claim to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) out of desperation in November 2016 but, after being threatened by Morris, withdrew it.

She began making a further claim in January 2017, and when asked by the service on May 16 why it had not been finished, she told them Morris threatened her again.

Less than two weeks later, on May 25, Morris attacked her from behind and stabbed her five times after trying to force her to drop the claim.

He was arrested two days later and jailed for life after admitting murder at The Old Bailey.

Lorna McNamara today told Southwark Coroner’s Court Emma didn’t report Mark’s death threats because she believed police couldn’t do anything unless he had physically abused her.

She also told a coroner CMS staff just seemed like they were ‘ticking a box’ instead of asking questions.

She told a coroner how her sister had made a report to police before but, after giving a statement and seeking a non-molestation order on her own, she heard nothing from them and believed they were “powerless.”

Emma reported threats in April 2016 and made a statement to officers but, after receiving advice to seek a non-molestation order, did not receive further support and no criminal action was brought against Morris, the inquest heard.

Ms McNamara added: “I think that if Emma had heard from police after she made her statement in April she would have believed they were doing something even if it was just an update or anything from them today the was being taken seriously and they were looking into her accusation.

“She didn’t have confidence the police would do anything in the future when she was being threatened.”

However, the court heard Ms Day did report a number of threatening and abusive texts to officers in the run-up to her murder.

The inquest heard he told her “You won’t like what will happen to you if you do.”

The coroner was also told how Morris had stated he would “rather die or go to prison” than give her any money.

Days before the horrific murder, he told her “your child will not have a mother” if she applied again and, when he found out about the application, told her he had quit his job for “the big finale”, the inquest heard.

Chillingly, he also met with the daughter prior to the killing and told her that he wouldn’t be seeing her in a long time.

Reading a heart-rending tribute to her sister, Ms McNamara said: "I can’t put into words the destruction and devastation her untimely death has caused.

"It's a constant suffering that never subsides and I feel like I am carrying her children’s anguish as well as my own.

"I can't believe she's gone it's a nightmare I can't wake up from.

I re-live the entire scenario over and over in my head. Its all consuming

"Her loss has been felt by a large community of people who loved her and her children.

"My children suffered a great deal, their lives have been turned upside down.

"We are slowly building our new reality everyday."

The inquest continues.