Missing man sustained fatal injuries during response to welfare concerns – West Yorkshire Police, May 2019

In May 2019, a woman reported her husband as missing to West Yorkshire Police (WYP) after she found a note indicating he was at risk of harm. WYP immediately sent officers to search for him. His family located his phone using the ‘Find my iPhone’ app, which showed his location as being on a bridge.

WYP officers arrived at the bridge and found him stood on the wrong side of the railings. The officers requested a negotiator and attempted to engage with the man for over an hour. The negotiator arrived and tried to talk with him, but shortly after his arrival the man fell from the bridge and died from his injuries.

We obtained and reviewed multiple pieces of evidence including police radio transmissions, body worn video footage, accounts from the officers involved and the incident log. We reviewed the decisions and actions of WYP against local and national policy.

Our investigation concluded in October 2019.

During the investigation we did not identify any indication that a police officer or staff member may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. All WYP officers and staff co-operated fully with this investigation.

An inquest was held in February 2022 and reached the conclusion of suicide. We waited for all external proceedings to be complete before publishing our findings.

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 did not identify any organisational learning.