Woman’s contact with police before she died - West Mercia Police and Staffordshire Police, January 2018

On 12 January 2018, a woman contacted Staffordshire Police to report concerns about her estranged husband’s behaviour, who lived in the force’s area. She described some instances where his behaviour had been intimidating. The force ran checks and identified that the man had a firearms licence.

As the woman lived in West Mercia, Staffordshire Police sent her concerns to West Mercia Police so they could complete a risk assessment, put the appropriate safeguarding measures in place and obtain a statement from her.

Between 12 and 25 January 2018, West Mercia Police logged various reasons for their delays in meeting with the woman. West Mercia Police officers saw the woman on 25 January 2018 and obtained further details from her.

On 26 January 2018, the woman’s estranged husband fatally shot her outside her home. He was charged with her murder.

Our investigators took several witness statements from police officers and staff. They analysed and compared these, along with the call recordings, incident logs, firearms documents, duty reports, independent police guidance, and local and national policies.

Our investigation looked at the initial call made by the woman to Staffordshire Police and the force’s actions, Staffordshire Police’s response to the knowledge that the woman’s estranged husband was a firearms licence holder, and West Mercia Police’s response to the incident transferred to them from Staffordshire Police.

Our investigation found that Staffordshire Police conducted enquiries concerning the woman’s estranged husband’s firearms. On 19 January 2018, he voluntarily surrendered his shotguns to a friend and handed over his licence to police.

Evidence also showed that a Staffordshire Police officer had re-examined the incident log before he woman was killed. They found no cause to upgrade the level of risk, but recommended the case was reviewed by a specialist unit within the force dealing with vulnerability.

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

We recommended that Staffordshire Police continues to identify and explore opportunities to improve cross-border liaison and mutual assistance with neighbouring forces.

After reviewing our report, both Staffordshire Police and West Mercia Police agreed.

We completed our investigation in February 2019 but waited until the criminal trial had concluded to publish our findings.