Actions following allegations of kidnapping - Thames Valley Police, January 2017

At 2am on 21 January 2017, Thames Valley Police officers attended a location in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire to identify potential CCTV cameras in relation to ongoing enquiries. The officers had been briefed that a man had been kidnapped and they were tasked with identifying CCTV cameras at a location where either the victim or suspect was believed to have been earlier that day. Officers arrived in the area and saw three men in front of a store. A man approached their vehicle, and an officer spoke to him and took his full name. He then left. The two men who had been with him had left the area.

The officers returned to Milton Keynes police station, where they were informed that the man they had spoken to was a suspect in their investigation who had been named in the earlier briefing. The kidnapped man was found dead two hours later near the same store.

The investigation considered a range of evidence including statements from officers and witnesses, CCTV, telephone data and policies and procedures.

In their statements, the officers said the man they spoke to had been very calm and non-evasive and they therefore did not see the need to run a check on him. There is no policy requirement for officer to conduct checks on an individual in similar circumstances. In the Investigator’s opinion, the evidence suggested the officers did not breach the standards expected of them, or any policies and procedures.

The Investigator concluded that there was insufficient evidence upon which a reasonable tribunal could conclude that any of the officers had a case to answer for gross misconduct.