Contact with police before a man died - West Yorkshire Police, June 2018

On 21 June 2018 two officers from West Yorkshire Police (WYP) made an unannounced visit to a man in Huddersfield to conduct a check on whether he was complying with a sexual harm prevention order.

During the visit the officers suspected that he may have breached this order and seized his mobile phone for further examination. They arranged for him to voluntarily attend a police station the next day for an interview.

The following day, at 5.19am, a member of the man’s family made an emergency 999 call and reported concerns for the man’s welfare. They had discovered he had posted a note through his family’s letterbox suggesting he was going to harm himself. The call was graded as a high risk missing person incident and police resources were dispatched.

At 5.53am a member of the public contacted WYP to report finding a man hanging from a tree. WYP officers and paramedics arrived shortly afterwards, but he was pronounced dead. The man was confirmed to be the man seen by officers the previous evening.

Our investigators obtained witness statements from the officers who had contact with the man on 21 June 2018, and other officers who were involved in searching for him. Investigators reviewed national guidance and WYP policies, and obtained a witness statement from the man’s probation officer.

Our investigators also examined routine contact between the man and WYP on two previous occasions, in May 2018, following the man’s release from prison. Investigators also reviewed risk assessments conducted by WYP in relation to the man as well as the contact he experienced with the police.

The evidence suggested that all the police contact with the man prior to his death was in accordance with force and national policy and procedure.

Based on the evidence available we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or had committed a criminal offence. We completed our investigation in March 2019.

An inquest into the man’s death, which concluded in June 2019, recorded a conclusion of suicide.