WIREDGOV

An investigation, following an incident in which a woman and her children were held hostage in Greater Manchester, found an officer breached the standards of professional behaviour.

The woman, and one of her children, were injured during the incident – which lasted more than 26 hours – after her ex-partner, Marc Leigh Schofield, broke into her home in Shaw in July last year. Schofield was jailed for 17 years in December.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers were called to attend a domestic incident and spoke to the woman and Schofield. The attending officers removed Schofield from the house and took him to an alternative address. GMP were called later that day from the address of the original incident and, when they arrived, they discovered the hostage situation.

During the investigation, we found evidence suggesting an officer may have added information to his pocketbook entry after it was signed by the woman later held hostage; this amounted to a breach of the professional standards of behaviour. The officer resigned from the force before the completion of our investigation, and, as the evidence did not amount to a case to answer for gross misconduct, no further action was required.

We determined that more could have been done to deal with Schofield, beyond removing him from the house, following the officers’ initial contact with him. As a result, we made a learning recommendation for both officers in respect of procedures when dealing with cases of domestic abuse. GMP agreed with our finding, and further learning will be provided for the officer who remains with the force.

Regional Director Amanda Rowe said:

“It was important that we looked independently at the circumstances of the incident, and the actions of Greater Manchester Police, given that they had been in contact with the woman involved and Marc Schofield in the hours before the hostage situation began. Where possible, we will always try to identify learning opportunities from our investigations; that's never more important than when it concerns very serious crimes relating to domestic abuse.”