Woman’s contact with police before her death - Greater Manchester Police, August 2018

In May 2016, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) received a report regarding the alleged rape and sexual abuse of a woman.

In December 2017, the alleged abuser was charged with a number of sexual offences. His trial was scheduled for the following autumn.

Between May 2016 and August 2018 27 incidents were reported to GMP which involved the woman who had been allegedly abused by the man. Many of these concerned her self-harming or threatening to self-harm.

The last contact between the GMP investigating officer and the woman was via an email exchange between 16 July and 1 August 2018, when the investigating officer asked the woman how she was “getting on”. The woman responded that she was “not getting on well”. The investigating officer misread the woman’s email and replied on 1 August “I’m glad you are doing better”. There was no evidence which could confirm whether the woman had opened/read this response.

Within the time of this email exchange, on 25 and 28 July 2018, the woman was involved in two further incidents that were reported to GMP, unrelated to the allegations of rape and sexual abuse from May 2016.

Early in August 2018, the woman jumped or fell from the window of a fourth floor flat. She subsequently died in hospital.

We investigated the contact the woman had had with GMP prior to her death.

We initially recovered a large amount of material from GMP relating to their contact with the woman, from May 2016 through to the date of her death.

We obtained statements from members of police staff, police officers and support workers who had involvement with the woman during the final weeks of her life. We also examined and considered material relating to police contact.

Evidence showed that the woman had considerable police contact during the timespan of the investigation into the allegations she made about her alleged abuser. Evidence from her support worker suggests that the woman was positive about the ongoing police investigation and had not raised any issues with them regarding its progress or the police officers involved in it. There was no evidence to suggest that the police may have caused or contributed to the woman’s death.

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

We concluded our investigation in March 2019, but waited until the inquest into the woman’s death had concluded in summer 2019 before publishing its outcome. The inquest jury’s conclusion was that the woman had died from traumatic injuries following a fall from a height.