Response to domestic abuse incidents - North Wales Police, June 2017

On 3 June 2017, a woman contacted North Wales Police to report a verbal altercation with her partner. During the call, she disclosed that she had sustained a brain injury after he pushed her down the stairs the year before. Officers went to the woman’s house, and reported that no offences had been disclosed.

On 5 June 2017, two members of the public called 999 to report a domestic disturbance, during which a man could be heard threatening to kill someone. Officers attended. The report concerned the same woman who had called two days previously. They took her to her mother’s house at her request. They later recorded that she hadn’t reported any offences.

During a subsequent review, it was discovered that the woman had made an allegation of assault during her call to police on 3 June 2017. One of the attending officers was tasked with making further enquiries. She spoke with the woman on 21 June 2017, and the woman said that she had been drinking that night and no longer believed she had been assaulted.

On 25 June 2017, a member of the public called 999 to report that he had heard a man shouting “die” and a woman shouting for help. He did not know the exact address, but the information he provided indicated two possible addresses, one of which was the address of the woman subject of the reports of 3 and 5 June 2017. Two officers arrived and spoke to the woman’s partner, who denied any knowledge of a disturbance.

On 1 July 2017, the woman’s partner contacted the North Wales Ambulance Service to report that she had fallen down the stairs. Paramedics attended, and she was declared dead at the scene. Her partner was initially arrested on suspicion of murder, but later released without charge.

Our investigators obtained accounts from six of the officers involved in these incidents. They also obtained and reviewed police logs, call recordings, radio transmissions and associated documentation.

Based on the evidence available, at the end of the investigation, we were of the opinion that the two officers who responded to the 999 call on 25 June may have failed in their duties and responsibilities to investigate a report of domestic abuse and to consider the woman’s welfare, contrary to local and national policies dealing with domestic abuse. We were of the view that they had a case to answer for misconduct.

After reviewing our report, North Wales Police agreed, and held a misconduct meeting for the two officers. The force also advised that they would take this case to their Protecting Vulnerable People board for review and to identify learning for the organisation.

At the misconduct meeting, the Chair was of the opinion that the officers responded to a dynamic incident and conducted enquiries to ascertain the location of the shouts heard; officers took risk-based decisions based on the circumstances and information available to them at the time of an incident utilising the National Decision Model. Misconduct was found not proven and no further action was taken against the two officers.