IPCC issues findings from investigation into the actions of Nottinghamshire Police prior to the death of John McGrath
27 Jun 2014 04:44 PM
The Independent Police
Complaints Commission (IPCC) has issued its findings from its
investigation into the actions of Nottinghamshire Police before the death
of John McGrath in July 2009.
In May 2009, William Barnard was
identified by Nottinghamshire Police as a suspect in an attempted robbery but
he was never arrested. In July 2009 he assaulted his grandparents, John and
Mabel McGrath. John McGrath subsequently died from the injuries he
sustained.
The
IPCC independent investigation found that while the
initial response from the police to the attempted robbery was appropriate, once
William Barnard was identified as a suspect a number of failings occurred. The
findings include:
- a delay in CID officers actively
investigating the case
- no attempts by detectives to
speak to William Barnard after he was identified as a suspect despite
having his name and address for two months;
- a failure to prioritise
an investigation that had a suspect with mental health
issues where there was a belief he had committed a violent
crime;
- a failure to supervise staff on
the investigation.
The IPCC found that three
officers had a case to answer for misconduct. Nottinghamshire Police has
since issued them with management advice.
The findings from
the independent investigation could not be released
until the conclusion of the inquest at Nottingham Coroners’ Court, which
today found that Mr McGrath had been unlawfully killed. William Barnard was
previously remanded indefinitely to a high security hospital after admitting
manslaughter in January 2012.
The IPCC initially decided to
manage an investigation by Nottinghamshire Police into this
matter. Following a complaint from the family, via their MP, the IPCC
decided to carry out an independent investigation, examining
the police response to the attempted robbery and re-examining the findings of
the managed investigation, including the liaison with the
family.
The independent inv
estigation found failings in
the managed investigation. Mr McGrath’s
family were not updated, as they should have been, and
the investigation did not identify key lines of inquiry, the
issue of William Barnard’s mental health, or that officers involved in
the robbery investigation might have breached the standards
of professional behaviour.
IPCC Deputy Chair Sarah Green
said:
“There are clear lessons
for Nottinghamshire Police in how they deal with suspects with mental health
issues. While we can never know if arresting William Barnard would have
prevented John McGrath’s death, it is not acceptable that an identified
suspect with mental health concerns was never visited, questioned or arrested
for his suspected part in an attempted robbery.
“There are also, however,
lessons for the IPCC, many of which emerged in our own recent review of the way
that we investigate deaths. As a result of this, and our learning in this
and other cases, we no longer manage such investigations, but carry them out
ourselves from the beginning, with oversight from our independent
commissioners. We have also improved the way that we work and liaise with
bereaved families, and instituted more robust quality
measures.
“I have met the family of
John McGrath to discuss our investigation, and our investigator
has taken them through the independent investigation’s findings.
I have also apologised to the family in writing, and now do so
again, for the inadequacy of the
initial managed investigation and its failure to reach
proper conclusions.”
The IPCC made a number of
learning recommendations to Nottinghamshire Police following
the investigation which the force has fully
accepted.