Man found dead after being reported missing - South Yorkshire Police, January 2019
On 12 January 2019, a member of the public saw a man fall over and sustain a head injury in an underpass in Barnsley. A South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officer provided first aid before paramedics arrived and took the man to Barnsley Hospital for treatment.
At 5.13pm the same day, a member of the public reported to SYP a man covered in blood on High Balk Lane, Barnsley.
At 5.25pm, hospital staff reported to SYP that the man who had sustained the earlier head injury had left the hospital at 5.10pm before his treatment was completed. SYP responded to both of these incidents, believing this could be the same man, but was unable to find him. SYP conducted several enquiries and identified the missing man.
They sought the assistance of West Yorkshire Police (WYP) who spoke with the man’s family, who lived in the WYP force area, and believed the man would make his own way home. At 12.05am on 13 January 2019, the family reported their increased concern to the police as the man had still not returned home. SYP completed several further enquiries to try and locate him and recorded him as a missing person. At 8.32am the same day, a member of the public reported to SYP a body in Barnsley. SYP later confirmed this to be the man from the incidents on High Balk Lane and Barnsley Hospital.
We obtained documentary evidence from SYP computer systems that demonstrated the police response to the reports of concern for safety and their missing person investigation. We conducted witness interviews with one SYP police officer and four members of police staff involved in the search for the missing man and confirmed that they acted in accordance with the relevant policies and procedures in place at the time.
SYP adopted a partnership approach during their investigation: its officers and staff who were involved in the incident collaborated with WYP colleagues and other agencies during their investigative activity to locate the man, which we considered to be an example of best practice.
Our investigation found no evidence to indicate that any police officer or member of staff may have acted in a manner which would justify disciplinary action. All police officers and staff were treated as witnesses and co-operated fully with this investigation. The police officer involved in the search demonstrated a commendable level of insight and tenacity when dealing with this incident.
At the conclusion of the investigation, we shared our report with SYP, who agreed with our findings.
We completed our investigation in June 2019, but waited until the inquest into the man’s death had concluded, in autumn November 2019, to publish its outcome. The coroner recorded a conclusion of accidental death.