Response to missing person report - Lancashire Constabulary, November 2017

On 23 November 2017 at 7.39pm, a man reported to Lancashire Constabulary that his partner was missing. The man informed the police his partner had been quite depressed and that she had recently tried to climb onto the wrong side of an old railway bridge over Avenham Park, Preston, from which he had pulled her back. However, on the day she went missing, his partner had not indicated it was her intention to take her own life. The woman was graded a ‘medium-risk’ missing person by Lancashire Constabulary and an investigation was commenced to try to find her.

On 25 November 2017 at 8.57am, Lancashire Constabulary was contacted by a member of the public who had discovered a body on the embankment of the River Ribble in Avenham Park. The body was confirmed to be that of the woman reported missing two days before.

During the investigation, our investigators obtained witness statements from the majority of officers involved in the attempts to locate the woman. We reviewed the grading assigned to the missing woman against the guidance and policies used by Lancashire Constabulary. We made enquiries to ensure policy had been followed correctly in how the investigation into the woman’s disappearance was progressed.

Based on the evidence available we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner which would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

However, we were of the view that there was clear learning for the force and for police staff and officers involved in this investigation. There was not one single individual who was responsible for the issues identified in our investigation and there was no evidence to suggest that the police could have prevented the woman’s death if they had acted differently. We therefore proposed management action for those involved so they have the opportunity to reflect and learn from this incident to improve the policing response to a similar issue in the future.

After reviewing our report, the force’s view was that there could be no individual pinpointed as having unsatisfactory performance. All the officers involved in the incident will be informed of our findings so that they can reflect on their actions and to ensure that in the future the matters raised are not repeated. Lancashire Constabulary also agreed that there was potential organisational learning around the grading of missing-from-home investigations, in particular basing decision on information received from those who know the missing person. They advised that our report would be shared with relevant managers and officers to ensure any learning points are disseminated.

We concluded our investigation in July 2018, but waited until the inquest into the woman’s death had taken place, in spring 2019, before publishing the outcome.