IPCC fatal crash investigation concludes Wiltshire Police officers' should have done more

18 Jun 2010 10:34 AM

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has yesterday published its full investigation report into the death of Mesut Kayran and the actions of Wiltshire Police following the guilty plea in the court case in Swindon Crown Court against a farmer.

The IPCC independent investigation found that a police constable and a police community support officer failed to properly carry out their duties when they had attended reports of mud on 23 October 2008 on the B4014 near Sunset Hill, Malmesbury.

A PCSO tasked with assessing the road following a call from a member of the public about mud on the road failed to properly carry out his duties when he attended the location.

After the PCSO had left a police constable was sent to the area to respond to a 999 call that a car had skidded off the road into a hedge. This was prior to Mr Kayran’s crash and the investigation found that the officer failed to take action to protect or warn other road users of the potential danger the road surface presented.

IPCC Commissioner Rebecca Marsh said: My thoughts are with Mr Kayran’s family and friends at this difficult time for them. We have explained our investigation findings to Mrs Kayran and the force’s response to our recommendations.

We have also had to explain to her that the force are not taking any action against these two officers as it does not feel they did anything wrong. The view expressed to the IPCC was that other vehicles had passed through that stretch of road without any problems and therefore the two officers’ judgement that the road was not dangerous was not in question.

I must say that this is contradicted by the evidence of eyewitnesses, including the police force’s own collision investigation experts, as well as other emergency services attending – again, including police officers, that the road was treacherously slippery to vehicles and pedestrians.

The IPCC investigation, aided by the police expert collision investigation report, concluded that Mr Kayran probably applied his brakes when he hit the mud causing his car to skid and fatally crash.

Because of the comments made in writing to the IPCC by a senior officer we asked that this police counter view that the road was not dangerous be disclosed to the Crown Prosecution Service because of the health and safety prosecution of a farmer for depositing mud on the road, thereby endangering road users. The farmer’s prosecution followed a Wiltshire Police investigation.

The IPCC investigation report concluded that the two officers’ performance of their duties was deficient

However, the thrust of the revised guidance that the IPCC has issued to forces in England and Wales about the complaints system and the Taylor misconduct reforms means that we would have expected in this case that the two officers be given management advice and to reflect on the failings in their performance.

However, the public does not expect the complaints system to punish errors, but nor does it expect failings to be ignored. I will continue to work with Wiltshire Police and Police Authority to ensure that where appropriate lessons are learnt.

"The IPCC learning suggestions from the investigation have been accepted by Wiltshire Police and cover the deployment of police community support officers to this type of situation; control room processes; and work with the farming community to raise awareness of the law regarding depositing potential hazards on the public highway. All these suggestions are detailed in the published report.

To aid in the transparency of this investigation our report is available on our website at www.ipcc.gov.uk/kayran_final.pdf"

Notes for editors

At 5.50pm on 23 October 2008 a member of the public was travelling home when he nearly lost control of his vehicle. He dialled 999 and reported mud on the B4014 road from Tetbury towards Malmesbury, just before the turning to Brokenborough.
Wiltshire Police dispatched a police community support officer to assess the road surface at 6.09pm. At 6.37pm, the PCSO reported the following to the control room: Regarding Brokenborough there’s no mud on the main road whatsoever.”
At 6.50pm another member of the public dialled 999 and reported that a vehicle had crashed into his neighbour’s garden at the bottom of Sunset Hill, Malmesbury. The control room dispatched three police officers to the incident at 6.54pm.
All three police officers were recorded as arriving at the scene of the incident at 7.06pm. One police constable took control of the incident and the other two police officers resumed patrol.
At 7.30pm the police constable reported that there was no damage to road furniture or other vehicle and no injury to the driver. The police officer took the driver of the vehicle to a nearby public house for a cup of tea as she was shaken following the incident.
They were there approximately 30 minutes while awaiting recovery of her vehicle. The police officer drove back to the woman’s car and she waited in the police car with the officer.
At 8.40pm the same police officer radioed the control room to report a road traffic collision at his location and immediately requested an ambulance. Despite the efforts of this police officer, and others, Mr Kayran died at the scene.
The collision investigation report carried out by Wiltshire Police’s road collision damage experts concluded that the mud was excessive and coupled with the fact that it was drizzling made the road surface extremely slippery. The experts also concluded that Mr Kayran was not speeding.
The IPCC has overall responsibility for the police complaints system. Since April 2006 it has taken on responsibility for similar, serious complaints against HM Revenue and Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency in England and Wales. The IPCC’s jurisdiction was extended in 2008 to cover UK Border Agency staff exercising police-like powers.
The IPCC has the task of increasing public confidence in the complaint systems and aims to make investigations more open, timely, proportionate and fair.
The IPCC is run by a Chair, 10 Operational Commissioners (including two Deputy Chairs) and two non-Executive Commissioners.