Response to a report of domestic abuse - West Yorkshire Police, September 2019

On 12 September 2019, a woman called West Yorkshire Police (WYP) on the 101 non-emergency telephone line. She spoke to a call handler and reported that she had received threatening and abusive messages on her social media profiles from an ex-partner. WYP logged an incident report and scheduled an appointment to meet with the woman on 14 September 2019 to take a full report of her complaint. The woman did not attend her appointment and WYP closed the incident report. On 22 September 2019, the woman was assaulted by her ex-partner and strangled to the point where she lost consciousness.

Our investigators obtained copies of the initial telephone conversation between WYP and the woman. We also obtained copies of the incident report that was created in relation to that incident. We took witness statements from all the officers who were involved in handling the incident report before it was closed. We also looked at how WYP managed the second incident that was reported to them on 23 September 2019.

After a thorough examination of all the evidence, we found no evidence to indicate that any police officer or member of staff may have acted in a manner which would justify disciplinary action or caused or contributed to the injuries sustained by the woman. All police officers and staff were treated as witnesses and cooperated fully with this investigation.