Thursday 12 Jun 2014 @ 16:10
Independent Police Complaints Commission
Independent Police Complaints Commission
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Police could not have predicted or prevented Altrincham fire deaths
Police acted in
accordance with all relevant policies and procedures during their contact with
a woman who was killed alongside one of her children in a house fire started by
her partner, an Independent Police Complaints Commission
(IPCC) investigation found.
The investigation,
which concluded in April 2012, examined contact between Greater Manchester
Police (GMP) and Tracey Jones in the weeks before a fire that was started by
David Potts, who also died, at her home in Altrincham on 19 September
2011.
The
IPCC investigation examined GMP interaction with Mrs Jones
on five occasions between 12 August 2011 and 7 September 2011 and the
force’s contact with Mr Potts during the same period.
It concluded that no GMP
officers received information that could have informed a prediction of Mr
Potts’ eventual behaviour towards Mrs Jones and her
family.
Mrs Jones had little contact
with GMP, and none concerning her relationship with Mr Potts, prior to being
visited by social workers on 12 August 2011.
On that day one of the social
workers called GMP about the theft of a car. The officers who attended informed
the force’s Public Protection Investigation Unit
(PPIU) and its child protection unit of the family
situation.
Mrs Jones, who was asked by
social services to report further contact from Mr Potts to police, called GMP
on 26 August 2011 to inform them he had been in touch with her. A statement was
taken, inline with the force’s stalking and harassment policy, before a
Police Information Notice (PIN), used by police to warn a person their
behaviour may constitute an offence for which they could be arrested, was
served on Mr Potts.
Another call was made to GMP on
29 August 2011 after Mr Potts contacted Mrs Jones to let her know he had had a
heart attack and was in hospital. Officers went to the hospital but were not
able to see him so left a message that he should not contact Mrs Jones
again.
On 2 September 2011 Mr Jones
reported that Mr Potts had sent text messages to one of her children. The
messages were non-threatening so arrangements were made for police to visit Mrs
Jones at a later date.
On 7 September 2011 a
non-threatening letter from Mr Potts was delivered to Mrs Jones’s home.
Police attended and examined the letter before updating the
PPIU.
There was no further contact
between Mrs Jones and GMP before the fire on 19 September
2011.
No organisational learning has
been identified for Greater Manchester Police and no officers were found to
have breached their standards of professional behaviour.
An inquest that ended in March
2014 concluded that Mrs Jones and her son Shaun Van Straaten were unlawfully
killed and that David Potts committed suicide.
IPCC Commissioner James
Dipple-Johnstone said: "The responsibility for the fire that ended with
the tragic deaths of Tracey Jones and one of her children lies with David
Potts. Before the fire there had been contact between GMP officers and Mrs
Jones and between GMP and Mr Potts, who had a history of violence and
threatening behaviour.
"There was, however,
nothing within those contacts that could have led police officers to predict
the catastrophic course of action that Mr Potts embarked on, and the action
taken by GMP officers, including issuing Mr Potts with a harassment notice, was
inline with the force’s policies and national
guidelines.”
