Investigation into police contact with man – Dorset Police, March 2023

On 17 March 2023, hospital staff contacted Dorset Police to inform them a patient who had undergone a psychiatric assessment following an episode of self-harm, had made admissions that he had committed offences of rape and would be at the hospital for around two hours if police wished to speak to him. 

Staff informed the police the man was homeless and had no means of contact such as a mobile phone.

Officers attended the hospital and found the patient had left. Enquiries were undertaken to locate him which were unsuccessful. The incident was closed, and the matter referred to a separate unit to progress.

The following day, 18 March 2023, the man attended hospital again and was treated for injuries relating to self-harm.

On this occasion, the man took a taxi to the police station where he confessed to having committed multiple offences of rape against named victims.

He was arrested and officers stayed with him within the confines of the police station whilst telephone enquiries were made to verify his claims. He was not taken into a police custody suite. The result of the telephone enquiries with named victims were that no offences of rape were identified. The man was then de-arrested. Officers did not believe he fitted the criteria which required detention under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act, but they did submit a Public Protection Notice to a multi-agency safeguarding unit and rated this as high risk.

On the evening of 18 March, the man was found with serious injuries having self-harmed and was conveyed to hospital via ambulance.

We viewed and analysed body worn video and CCTV footage, took statements from police officers, NHS staff and other witnesses. We reviewed police incident logs, pocket notebooks, MS Teams chats, and other relevant material to compare the evidence against police local and national policies, guidance, and legislative requirements.

Our investigation concluded in December 2023.

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

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.

In this case, the investigation has not identified any organisational learning.