EIGHT years on and absolutely nothing has changed.

That is the view of the husband of former Carewatch worker Sarah Merritt who was brutally murdered while on a home visit to a client.

Peter Merritt believes his wife, who died aged 39, would still be alive today if it were not for the “negligence” of the company which he says failed to protect its staff and instead let her walk into a flat where she was killed.

Now he has told how he believes the damning report into the company - which has branches covering Hampshire and Southampton - is long overdue as he urged council bosses to “pull the plug” on the contracts and hire other care providers.

It was in March 2007 when Sarah was tied up, raped and stabbed during a routine visit to her client Susan Hale who had already been killed and was lying dead in the bedroom at her home in Meggeson Avenue, Southampton. She was working for the Southampton branch and it was the first time in almost three weeks that any carer had managed to gain access to the property, during which time Mr Merritt says managers failed to act or raise the alarm.

Both had been bludgeoned to death by Ms Hale’s fiancée David Tiley in March 2007, who had not long been released from prison.

As reported by the Daily Echo, earlier this year 50-year-old Peter accepted a “significant” payout from the firm for what he said were “failings” leading to Sarah’s death.

Carewatch denied it was “negligent and/or in breach of statutory duty” or that “the alleged murder, pain, injury, loss and damage were caused or contributed to by the matters alleged at all” and described the double murder as “a senseless and devastating tragedy”.

The settlement was reached on the eve of proceedings being heard in London’s Royal Courts of Justice and while Mr Merritt says he will always “regret” not having his day in court, the Care Quality Commission report only reinforced what he has always known.

He said: “It was part of my case, just how bad they were at Carewatch. They were almost like a regime, the way they treated their employees.

“It was the same eight years ago with elderly people being left alone and checks not being done – nothing has changed in my eyes as I knew all this back then.

“It seems that although they were taken over the baton has been passed over to someone new and they have continued to run it in the same way.

He added: “I believe Sarah died because the company she worked for was so badly run – I knew it was never an unavoidable accident.”

Asked about his feelings, Mr Merritt added: “I feel a sense of sadness for the clients who are so in need of their care.

“I did not have a chance to have my day in court and say what I wanted to say but I feel this is like karma now. It is a sense of relief that people realise and they can no longer hide following the release of this report.”

Mr Merritt last night joined a chorus of people calling for council chiefs to review the tendering of contracts to the company.

He said: “Mud sticks and pressure should now fall on those at Hampshire and Southampton councils in regards to who hands out these contracts for care.

“It should be taken away from this company and given to someone else.

“Having recently renewed their contracts with Carewatch it seems to me they may be concerned about what kind of message would be sent if they went ahead and pulled the plug. But what is it going to take for them to wake up and look at what is happening here?”