Man found dead after being reported missing - Devon and Cornwall Police, April 2018

On 18 April 2018, the wife of a man who was under investigation by Devon and Cornwall Police reported him missing. She reported that her husband had sent her a text message saying that he intended to take his own life. The man was initially treated as a ‘medium risk’ missing person, but this was later escalated to ‘high risk’. Officers located the man in the early hours of the following morning and detained him under section 136 of the Mental Health Act. He was discharged from hospital the following day.

On 29 April 2018, the man went missing for a second time. His wife contacted Devon and Cornwall Police at 5.55pm and reported that he had left the house at approximately 10am that morning, saying he was going to get milk at a nearby supermarket, but had not returned. She added that it was possible that he may be in one of the local pubs. The man was risk-assessed as a ‘medium risk’ missing person. Officers completed a search at his home address and enquiries with local pubs. A police dog unit was also asked to walk the route that the man would have taken to the supermarket, but the man was not found.

At 1.55am on 30 April 2018, after officers had established through viewing CCTV that the man had not been to the supermarket, the risk assessment was increased to ‘high risk’ and officers again searched for the man. Officers found him hanging in a dense area of woodland at 8.36am on 30 April 2018.

We investigated the contact that the man had had with Devon and Cornwall Police before his death. We also investigated one complaint made by the man’s wife that he should have been escalated to ‘high risk’ earlier in the missing person investigation of 29 and 30 April.

During the investigation, our investigators reviewed the police incident logs relating to both reports that the man had gone missing. We obtained witness statements from a number of the officers involved in dealing with the report of 29 April 2018. We also reviewed local and national policies and guidance regarding missing person’s investigations.

We were of the view that officers had carefully considered the circumstances and recorded detailed and reasoned decisions on the incident log. They took into account that, when he had gone missing on 18 April, the man had sent a text implying that he intended to end his life, but had not done so that time, and had also said he would not put his wife “through this again”. It was therefore our opinion that the initial risk assessment on 29 April 2018 and the later reviews prior to 1.55am, which assessed him as ‘medium risk’ were reasonable in light of the information available at the time.

In our opinion the officers' actions in completing prompt initial enquiries at the man’s home address and in the surrounding area (with the assistance of a police dog unit), as well as at local pubs and the supermarket, were appropriate and proportionate.

Evidence showed that, when CCTV established that the man had not been to the supermarket, he was then reassessed as ‘high risk’, with no undue delay.

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 completed our investigation in November 2018 but waited until the inquest into the man’s death had concluded, in autumn 2019, to publish its outcome.