Police contact investigated after domestic abuse incidents lead to woman’s death – West Yorkshire Police, February 2024

West Yorkshire Police officers responded to six incidents between a man and a woman over a seven-week period. Most of these incidents were related to domestic abuse. They included members of the public reporting disturbances, fighting and physical altercations between a man and a woman, as well as damage to property. The victim (the woman) also reported to the police that the man had threatened to kill her.

West Yorkshire Police faced challenges with progressing enquiries relating to the reported incidents. These included victim and witness engagement and pursuing enquiries about providing evidence. The incidents were closed due to these difficulties.

The woman was found dead in her home six weeks after the last incident was reported, and the man was found guilty of the woman’s murder in March 2025.

We received a death or serious injury referral from the force in February 2024 and decided to independently investigate the nature and extent of police contact with the woman, and if there was any evidence that the police may have caused or contributed to her death.

We examined the police’s decisions, actions and risk assessments, as well as whether they acted in accordance with local and national policies, procedures, guidance and training.

Our investigators reviewed documents relating to all known instances of contact between the man and the woman. We spoke with officers about what information was known to them at the time, and their risk assessments and actions based on this. We also reviewed body worn video footage.

We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner to justify disciplinary proceedings. We found that officers acted in accordance with relevant policies and procedures, taking positive action during several of the incidents.

Our investigation also revealed that the conditions of the man’s bail were not easily available to officers when they went to the incidents. We found that the Police National Computer which detailed the man’s record (one of multiple resources available to the police) was not accessed on every occasion by officers or police control room staff. While this may not have led to a different outcome, we have addressed this in our learning recommendations below.

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 recommended that the force should make sure that all incidents between a victim and a perpetrator are flagged to the officer in charge so that a clear timeline of escalation and/or repeated incidents is established.

We also recommended that officers should make sure they are aware of bail conditions in domestic abuse situations, and that there is always ‘cover’ for officers who cannot progress enquiries on cases due to other operational duties.