Woman is murdered following a domestic incident - Greater Manchester Police, September 2017

On 9 July 2017, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers visited the home address of a woman following reports of a domestic incident. The woman was spoken to regarding the report which involved her partner, however no criminal offences were disclosed. GMP reported that Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Based Violence (DASH) questions were asked, but the woman declined to engage. The incident was graded as a medium risk due to the officers observing that the woman appeared scared of her partner. It was downgraded by the Public Protection Investigation Unit (PPIU) to a standard risk, due to this being the first domestic abuse incident. The woman was given a leaflet and sent a letter offering support.

On 17 September 2017, the woman’s partner contacted police stating that the woman wanted him to leave the property and he wanted police to remove him. The operator re-contacted the partner who stated that he was going to his mother’s address and that the woman had gone to her mother’s home. The following morning, officers spoke to the woman at her mother’s address, where she reported that the night before her partner grabbed her around her throat. However she declined to make a complaint of assault and signed the officer’s pocket notebook entry to that effect. A crime was recorded but no further enquiries were conducted. This incident was assessed as a medium risk but subsequently downgraded to standard by PPIU.

On 25 September 2017, it was reported by the woman’s sister that the man, now her ex-partner, had broken into the woman’s home address armed with a knife. Police officers went to the address, forced entry, and found the woman dead.

We have obtained witness statements from all officers who came into contact with the woman prior to her murder, and from officers who dealt with her case within the Public Protection Investigation Unit, in addition to police staff involved in dispatching resources to the scene on the day of her death.

We obtained and analysed recordings of radio transmissions and 999 calls from incidents prior to the woman’s death. We also reviewed body worn video footage of officers who attended the scene of the murder.

We obtained and analysed police logs and copies of GMP policies and procedures for the purpose of this investigation.

During the investigation there was no indication any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.

We finalised our investigation in September 2018. We waited for all associated proceedings to be finalised before publishing our findings.

Based on the evidence available we found no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

We did not identify any organisational learning.