Investigation into police contact with a woman and man between 2016 and 2018 - Greater Manchester Police, August 2020
In February 2018, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) received a report of a man having jumped from a second floor window covered in blood. Police officers forced entry into his residence where they found a woman who had sustained fatal stab wounds.
In August 2018, the man was convicted of her murder.
There were a number of domestic incidents involving the man and woman reported to the police from March 2016.
During our investigation, we specifically investigated:
- GMP’s response to reported incidents involving the man and woman between March 2016 and 13 February 2018.
- GMP’s decision not to prosecute the man in relation to an incident in August 2016, where the woman alleged she had been assaulted by him.
- GMP’s response to concerns raised by the man's family regarding his behaviour and his relationship with the woman.
The IOPC looked at the contact between GMP, and the victim and suspect throughout the course of their relationship, up to within a few days of the murder.
We analysed recorded incidents and any related material, including public protection and crime paperwork. We took statements from police officers and the man's family regarding concerns that they raised with GMP.
Our investigation concluded in February 2019.
We found no indication that a person serving with the police may have 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 find individual learning for an officer and organisational learning.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
Where there is a volume of calls and incidents alleging domestic abuse, and it is unclear as to the the extent of abuse and the identity of all parties, this should be flagged for further investigation and analysis by a dedicated officer. In this case, there was a wealth of information from professionals and attending police officers but this information was not collated and analysed despite Ms Richardson falling within the definition of a ‘repeat victim’. This resulted in each incident being managed in isolation with a lack of appreciation of the full extent of the abuse.
Recommendation accepted:
Once an officer has attended a DA incident, they should be completing a DAB (Domestic Abuse Event) or in the case of Danielle, it was called a PPI. These both enable the officer to record the answers to the DASH risk assessment, link all relevant people and provide information about the incident they attended and set a risk grading. By linking the correct person to the event, it will show all events linked to them on their person record.
Standard risk incidents were not and are still are not reviewed by a triage team - standard risk are assessed by a STRIVE risk assessor to see whether they are suitable for the STRIVE intervention and if they are, they would be passed into the STRIVE process. The last incident involving Danielle was graded as standard by the attending officer and referred to STRIVE. The STRIVE risk assessor would have been able to change the risk had they felt it was required having been able to see an overview of the domestic abuse history and make a decision if they felt that Standard risk was not appropriate.
The expectation was, and still is, that when a DAB is passed to the triage team for review, that they look at the previous information held to help inform decisions about appropriate action to take in response to the latest incident. It is usually not possible/realistic to re-review all previous incidents every time but an understanding of what action has previously been taken, who was involved in the incident and volume/escalation of incidents should all be factored into the decision making process. Looking at the last incident would give some indication as to what action is likely to be needed in the most incident.
I think it is important to note, that there are times when officers make incorrect decisions on risk grading. I would like to believe that STRIVE would offer a safety net, so that an incident inappropriately graded as Standard would be re-graded and passed back to the MASH team (where the triage team works) for further assessment.
I have attached the DA triage expectations document which was circulated last year to improve consistency around triage across the force. These standards are not new, but required reinforcing due to a number of organisational changes and obviously the changes that iOPS introduced. This may help reassure the IOPC.
In summary, all DAB graded Medium or High will be assessed by a triage officer. Standard has a pathway into STRIVE but equally, there needs to be an exit out of the STRIVE pathway if it is identified that it is inappropriate.
Victim Services is working on a revised SLA with Talk Listen Change who are the service providers for STRIVE and the new DA policy will provide some more guidance to officers around when choosing a Standard Risk Grading may not be appropriate to try and avoid incorrect risk grading's in the first instance.
GMP's Domestic Abuse Policy states 'If a victim withdraws their statement and states that their first account was untrue, officers must not make decisions to arrest or summons for offences, or issue a penalty notice for Wasting Police Time without consultation with a supervisor from the PPIU'. Issuing fixed penalty notices following the retraction of a statement relating to domestic abuse should be reconsidered. The dynamics of domestic abuse are complex and victims may be pressured into withdrawing statements or be unable to support prosecutions.
Recommendation accepted:
If a victim withdraws their statement and states that their first account was untrue, officers must not make decisions to arrest or summons for offences, or issue a penalty notice for Wasting Police Time without the prior approval of an officer of at least the rank of Inspector. The dynamics of domestic abuse are complex and victims may be pressured into withdrawing statements or be unable to support prosecutions. Victims withdraw for a variety of reasons, often through fear and intimidation and it is crucial that this is taken into consideration.