Response to missing person’s report - Gwent Police, October 2017

On Friday 6 October 2017, Gwent Police responded to a missing person’s report made for a man in the Blaenau area. The woman who reported him missing told police that the man had walked out of the house, following an alleged argument with his family. Gwent Police conducted enquiries at the local hospital and at the man’s home and made attempts to contact his wife, but there was no answer. Officers continued to go to the man’s home over the course of the weekend. Checks conducted on the man’s car indicated that he had last been sighted in the Dyfed Powys area. Dyfed Powys Police also conducted enquiries to locate the man over the course of the weekend, but the results were negative. On Monday 9 October, the man’s wife reported him missing and this was regraded as a high-risk missing person investigation. Later that evening, the man’s body was found in his car in the Dyfed Powys area.

Our investigators conducted witness interviews. They also obtained and analysed case management records and radio and telephone transmissions to timeline the police response to the missing person’s report and to establish what enquiries were carried out to locate him.

During the investigation we found no indication that any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or committed a criminal offence.

After reviewing our report the force agreed with our findings.