Police contact with man who purchased gravity knife before committing murder - Greater Manchester Police, November 2021

In November 2021, the UK Border Force intercepted and seized a prohibited gravity knife being sent from China to a man at his home address in Manchester. The UK Border Force sent the information to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) for further action.

GMP recorded a crime in relation to the purchase of the knife and, on the 6 December 2021, an officer from GMP visited the man at his home address to speak to him. The conversation was recorded on the officer’s body-worn-video camera. During the conversation, the man confirmed he had purchased the knife and disclosed he was ‘on licence’. 

The officer gave the man words of advice. 

On 10 February 2022, the crime was reviewed and closed by the officer's supervisor and no further action was taken.

Documents from the prison service stated that the man's prison licence was due to expire on 9 September 2022.

In January 2022, the man was arrested and charged with the murder of a man whose body was found dismembered. 

On 8 February 2022, GMP referred the matter to the IOPC in relation to the man's conduct. 

On 15 July 2022, the man along with his cousin were found guilty of the man’s murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

During the investigation, we reviewed the crime record, body worn video footage and carried out witness interviews with several police officers.  The attending officer was interviewed under caution and an account obtained as to the actions he carried out when dealing with the crime record. 

Our investigation concluded in August 2022, but we waited for criminal proceedings to conclude before publishing our findings.

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. 

In this case, we did identify organisational learning and we continue to consult with GMP before issuing recommendations.