Police contact with man preceding murder – Derbyshire Constabulary, February 2020
On 15 February 2020, a vulnerable man was found dead and a woman, who acted in an unofficial capacity as the man’s live-in carer, was convicted of his murder.
After the woman moved in with the vulnerable man, neighbours called the police to report welfare concerns on five separate occasions between December 2018 and December 2019. Our investigation focused on the police response to those five incidents.
We specifically investigated the actions and decisions of Derbyshire Constabulary in relation to the incidents and whether local and national policies and procedures were followed.
We obtained and analysed the incident logs for the five previous incidents. Derbyshire Constabulary shared witness statements from the neighbours who reported the earlier incidents to the police. We reviewed and analysed these statements for our investigation. We also analysed statements from the officers who attended the earlier incidents.
Our investigation concluded in October 2020.
We concluded there was 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 identified two areas of organisational learning in respect of a new local vulnerable adult policy and improvements to the incident logs and the way they link previous incidents. We progressed these under Paragraph 28A of the Police Reform Act 2002.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Derbyshire Police should write and implement a comprehensive Vulnerable Adult Policy that incorporates ACPO guidance and complements existing local authority safeguarding policies.
As a result of this incident, Derbyshire Police have introduced guidance and learning for officers to help identify vulnerable people. However, this guidance does not fully reflect all aspects of Guidance On Safeguarding And Investigating The Abuse Of Vulnerable Adults (ACPO 2012).
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Both recommendations will be actioned.
The vulnerable adult policy is something that Derbyshire have been looking to write for a while now, but has stalled due to lockdown.
This is with the relevant DCI within PPU.
Likewise the issue with the passing of previous incidents to officers who attend new incidents has been passed to the DCI within the Force Intelligence Management Unit to explore.
The IOPC recommends that Derbyshire Constabulary should explore ways to highlight previous incidents, in respect of a person or address; when a new incident log is created or when the information is sought.
Police responded to five separate calls over a period of 12 months. All the calls expressed concern that an elderly man was being abused in his home. Each incident was treated in isolation and no linkage was made between the incidents. This meant that the full picture of the potential abuse and frequency of calls was not identified and potential safeguarding and investigative opportunities lost. Furthermore an officer responding to one of the incidents actively attempted to interrogate intelligence of previous incidents on the address and the individual without success.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Both recommendations will be actioned.
The vulnerable adult policy is something that Derbyshire have been looking to write for a while now, but has stalled due to lockdown.
This is with the relevant DCI within PPU.
Likewise the issue with the passing of previous incidents to officers who attend new incidents has been passed to the DCI within the Force Intelligence Management Unit to explore.