Woman assaulted after officer fails in safeguarding duty – Bedfordshire Police, September 2023

A man in prison reported concerns to prison officers about the welfare of his partner. The man told officers he was worried about his partner’s safety as he had a drug debt that he owed. He said his partner has been robbed on two previous occasions to recover the debt. His partner was four months pregnant.

The man’s concerns were reported to a police officer in the offender management unit, and the officer was tasked with safeguarding the woman, who was in a vulnerable position. He was advised to make an immediate adult safeguarding referral.

Four days later, the man’s partner was kidnapped and assaulted in what appeared to be an attempt to recover drug debt. No safeguarding measures had been put in place at this time by the officer.

We received a conduct referral from Bedfordshire Police. We decided to independently investigate the actions of the police officer after he was told about safeguarding concerns for the man’s partner.

We investigated whether the officer failed to identify the woman’s vulnerabilities or to adequately safeguard her, as well as whether the officer made adequate enquires which may have prevented a crime from taking place.

Our investigators analysed email correspondence, as well as computer and airwave audits. We took a statement from the officer and interviewed him, as well as reviewing his previous work-related performance. We also obtained statements from other officers involved in the initial reports of concern, and considered all relevant, local and national policies, procedures, guidance and legislation.

We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence, but that the officer had behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

We found that the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct. We shared our report with the force, who agreed. We decided that disciplinary proceedings should be brought against the officer and that they should take the form of a gross misconduct hearing.

The gross misconduct hearing concluded in March 2025. The officer was found to have breached the police standards of professional behaviour for duties and responsibilities for failing to conduct adequate enquiries; not completing an adult safeguarding referral; not contacting the woman; and for failing to put in place safeguarding measures.

These amounted to a finding of gross misconduct and the officer was placed on the barred list. The officer would have been dismissed but he had resigned in January 2025.

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.

We did not identify any organisational learning in this case.