A mortgage lender has suspended repossession proceedings on a property after a domestic abuse victim faced losing her home following her husband’s death in a fire he deliberately set in 2022.
Francesca Onody, 53, had accumulated £34,700 in mortgage arrears and legal fees on the property after her husband, Malcolm Baker, a former Metropolitan Police superintendent, set fire to their cottage as police arrived to arrest him. Baker died in the blaze after dousing the building with petrol.
Halifax, the mortgage lender, issued a repossession order for the property, which included the land where Onody and her children have been living in a caravan since the fire. The lender suspended proceedings after media intervention and cancelled interest and fees that had accrued during Onody’s legal battles to secure probate.
Legal and financial complications
The case highlights the financial obstacles faced by domestic abuse victims after a relationship ends. Onody spent 28 months contesting Baker’s will under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act before being appointed as personal representative of the estate in February 2025.
During this period, she was unable to discuss the mortgage with Halifax as she was not named in probate documents. The property deeds and mortgage were in Baker’s sole name, preventing her from selling the land or applying to rebuild the cottage.
Before his death, Baker had emptied joint bank accounts and cancelled mortgage protection and buildings insurance. The inquest into his death heard that Baker had become mentally unstable after retiring from the Metropolitan Police in 2011 and was a heavy drinker.
Resolution and transfer of ownership
Halifax has now agreed to transfer the mortgage into Onody’s name once the deeds are amended to show her as the owner. The bank paid her £500 after admitting that a staff member had erroneously worked on a mortgage application in February 2024.
Onody paid off the mortgage this month, three-and-a-half years after the fire, and took possession of the land. She had been living in a caravan without heating or piped water alongside the ruins of the cottage.
The Home Office conducted a domestic homicide review to establish whether Baker was the abuse victim, but later apologised to Onody in a letter. The department acknowledged that Baker was the perpetrator and that the investigation had “continued the dynamics of abuse” that Onody had suffered during the 18-year marriage.
The case involved delays at the Probate Office and the Land Registry, which left Onody in legal limbo for months. She also had to fund a barrister to represent her at Baker’s inquest and challenge banks and insurers.
