Contact with police before woman dies - Leicestershire Police, January 2017

In January 2017 a man reported his wife as a missing vulnerable adult to Leicestershire Police. He told police she had failed to return home from work. The woman had a diagnosed mental health condition and had previously attempted suicide.

Officers arrived at the couple’s home and spoke to the man. The woman returned home while officers were there. She told officers she had been anxious and had gone for a drive. The attending officers made a referral to the Adult Referral Team (ART).

A member of police staff who worked within the ART made a decision that there would be no role for the ART at that time. He recorded that the woman had informed officers of her whereabouts, had not harmed herself and was being medicated for her mental health condition. He further recorded that the woman was aware of who to contact if she was concerned about her mental health, and had an appointment booked to see her community psychiatric nurse.

Later in the same month, the woman took her own life.

This was referred to us in February 2017. Our investigators analysed incident logs, emails, policies and other documents. They obtained witness statements from one of the attending officers and from the woman’s husband.

During the investigation, we served the member of police staff who worked within the ART with a notice informing them that their conduct was under investigation, for not making an onward referral, which may have resulted in a failure to appropriately safeguard the woman. We received a written response from them following this notice.

We were of the opinion that, at the time when the member of police staff made their decision not to request an onward referral, they made an assessment based on the information received from the attending officers. This information did not raise any concerns, in their mind, that further action was required. The member of staff appears to have considered the issues in accordance with applicable policies. We were satisfied that the member of staff considered whether contact with further agencies was required and decided it was not.

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 July 2018.