Woman found dead after concerns for her welfare reported to police - Sussex Police, July 2018

On 4 July 2018 Sussex Police received a call from a Chichester community mental health team concerning the welfare of a woman who had failed to turn up for an appointment. The caller expressed concern for the woman’s welfare, including the fact that she had been evicted from her accommodation the previous day and was in a poor state of health. It was also noted that the woman had recently been admitted to hospital with sepsis, spent time in a mental health hospital due to depression and had made suicide attempts in the past.

Later that evening an officer attended the hostel where the woman had been staying. Staff at the hostel said they had no concerns about the woman when she left the day before. Shortly afterwards Sussex Police closed the call.

On 6 July the woman’s body was found on train tracks nearby.

Our investigators obtained witness statements from all officers and police staff who had a role in handling the matter, as well as from the community psychiatric nurse who made the initial call and the member of staff at the hostel.

Based on the evidence available, we were of the opinion that the performance of one police officer may be considered to be unsatisfactory, in that they failed to identify that the woman was a missing person or that she had warning markers for violence and suicide and was wanted for bail offences; they also closed the call after an officer went to the woman’s hostel, without further investigation as to her location or welfare. We were also of the opinion that the performance of a member of police staff, who had not recorded the woman as a missing person, but marked the call as a ‘concern for welfare’ has also been unsatisfactory.

Our investigation highlighted some learning for the force around reminding all force staff of the definition of a missing person as per the Authorised Professional Practice.

After reviewing our report, Sussex Police agreed, and both the officer and member of staff received management action to address performance issues. The force also confirmed that it had addressed the area of learning highlighted by our investigation with two force briefings: a 60-second briefing to all staff, as well as the circulation of a “public protection learning briefing”.

We completed our investigation in December 2018 but waited until the inquest into the woman’s death had concluded, in summer 2019, to publish its outcomes. The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide.