Police contact with woman prior to her death - Avon and Somerset Police, April 2022

At 9.57pm on 18 April 2022, a woman (Ms A) called 999 and asked police to attend a pub in Bristol. The call was cut off before she could provide any further details, and she did not answer when Control Room staff called her back.

At 10.06pm, Ms A called Avon and Somerset Police again and reported a concern for the welfare of a woman with a black eye (Ms B), who she believed was a victim of domestic abuse.

Two officers arrived at the location at around this time and spoke with Ms B and her partner.
Officer body worn video (BWV) footage shows Ms B was visibly upset and had bruising around her left eye. The footage also shows that her partner was overbearing and intimidating in his behaviour towards her. When spoken to, Ms B maintained she sustained her injury accidentally. However, while her partner was looking on his phone for photographic proof that it was an old injury, he made a comment to an officer which was not further questioned.

The BWV footage shows the officers conducted various checks and enquiries at the scene, including speaking to Ms A and another witness, but ultimately agreed they did not have sufficient evidence to justify taking further action. Both Ms B and her partner left separately, but the officers subsequently located Ms B.

Although no further BWV footage was available, the officers stated that Ms B reluctantly accepted their offer of a lift and told them she was going to meet a friend. They stated that they asked her again whether there was anything she would like to tell them, but she declined and asked to be dropped off somewhere she could buy food. At 12.28am on 19 April 2022, a member of the public called 999 to report that a person, subsequently identified as Ms B, had fallen from the tenth floor of a residential tower block. Officers attended and provided first aid, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

IOPC investigators obtained accounts from the two attending officers, and from members of the public who were present at the relevant time and obtained and reviewed relevant force policies and BWV footage.

Our investigation concluded in December 2022.

We concluded no person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings. We did find a performance issue which we advised could be resolved through reflective conversation with their line manager.

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 not identify any organisational learning.