Response to reports of threats - Cleveland Police and Cheshire Constabulary, March 2018

At 8.32am on 27 March 2018, a woman contacted Cleveland Police to report that she had received threats from her ex-partner.

At 11.51am on 28 March 2018, the woman’s ex-partner contacted Cleveland Police to report that he had received threats from the woman’s new boyfriend and that he had contemplated suicide after being told the woman had cheated on him. The man and the woman were spoken to over the phone by the same Cleveland Police officer. An appointment was made for the woman to be seen by a Cleveland Police officer and, as the man lived in the Cheshire force area, he was asked to go to his local police station to make a statement.

At 12.44am on 29 March 2018, Cleveland Police emailed Cheshire Constabulary Control Room stating that the woman had reported a crime of domestic-related harassment and that the suspect was her ex-partner. The woman had reported that her relationship with the man ended in January 2018 and that he started sending her abusive and threatening messages. In an email to Cheshire Constabulary, Cleveland Police outlined that the messages from the man included him threatening to kill himself, and made reference to his being depressed and suicidal.

Cleveland Police stated that the man was likely to be sending the messages from his home address and therefore the crime was committed in Cheshire. Cleveland Police requested that Cheshire Constabulary record the crime and stated that the woman wanted the man to be spoken to regarding his course of conduct and warned about his behaviour.

At 1.48am Cheshire Constabulary replied to Cleveland Police via email stating that the crime needed to be recorded by Cleveland Police as, although the man lived in Cheshire, there was no evidence that the messages were sent from his home address. Cleveland Police responded, asking that a Cheshire Constabulary officer visit the man to deliver words of advice. This email was not opened until 9.57pm that same day. No command and control incident was created and no patrol was tasked to go to speak to the man.

At 2.56pm on 29 March 2018 Cheshire Constabulary received a call from the ambulance service who had attended an address where they found the man dead.

The investigator reviewed a number of documents, including incident logs, the call recordings that could be obtained, as well as policies and audits of the actions of police staff. We obtained witness statements from a number of police officers and police staff about their involvement and risk assessments when dealing with the information the man provided.

Based on the evidence available, we found no indication that any person serving with either Cleveland Police or Cheshire Constabulary may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

We identified a performance issue for a Cheshire Constabulary communications officer (police staff), who had failed to act on the email received from Cleveland Police, and suggested the communications officer should receive management action.

After reviewing our report, Cheshire Constabulary agreed with our determination. The communications officer received management action to address the issues in their performance.

We completed our investigation in September 2018, but waited until the inquest into the man’s death had concluded in summer 2019 to publish its outcomes. The inquest recorded a conclusion that the man had taken his own life.