Staffordshire Police 'failures' over death of stalking victim
Staffordshire Police has been told to make changes after "failures" in the investigation of a stalking victim who took her own life.
Police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), investigated the force’s response to incidents involving stalking victim Justene Reece, from Stafford, who took her own life following a sustained campaign of harassment by her ex-partner, Nicholas Allen.
Stafford Crown Court heard at the time that Allen began tormenting Ms Reece and her family once she had left him, sending thousands of calls, texts and messages via Facebook and WhatsApp.
After six months she took her own life and left a note explaining that she could not endure her stalker’s behaviour any longer.
The IOPC looked at the effectiveness of the police response to 34 incidents either directly involving or connected to Ms Reece between September 2016 and when she died, in February 2017.
Evidence gathered by the investigator indicated that, contrary to policy, Staffordshire Police had consistently failed to cross-reference incidents and crimes reported to them on force computer systems, according to the IOPC.
Staffordshire Police has now accepted training recommendations to improve the linking of incidents and crimes.
IOPC Regional Director Derrick Campbell said: “It is evident from our investigation that there were potential opportunities for the police to engage more robustly with Mr Allen.
“Officers were largely deployed to incidents appropriately, but a failure to cross-reference incidents led to them being treated in isolation, and a lost opportunity to recognise the scale of Mr Allen’s offending.
"The bigger picture of the level of harassment and stalking being perpetrated was not properly seen by police. We took the view that the prevalence of inconsistent practice among call handlers in cross-referencing indicated a training issue for the force, rather than a series of unrelated errors by individuals."
The force agreed that, although it did not amount to misconduct, the performance of a now retired senior officer was unsatisfactory in relation to advice given not to arrest Mr Allen for a reported breach of a non-molestation order (NMO) in December 2016.
It was one of seven NMO breaches by Mr Allen that Ms Reece reported to the force during the period under investigation.
It was also agreed with the force that seven officers and one member of police staff should receive management action in the form of advice as their performance had not met expected standards. This was in relation to issues such as the handling of calls and not completing risk assessments.
In response to the publication, Deputy Chief Constable Nick Baker said: “As a force we deeply regret Justene Reece’s death in 2017. The IOPC investigation has rightly scrutinised the actions of the force and identified important areas for improvement.
"We acknowledge the findings of this report, which highlights that over 30 separate contacts were made with the force, despite which cross reference connections were not made and for this I apologise.
"Since the tragic death of Justene we have made improvements to our safeguarding and investigative approach to stalking, but we have more work to do. We are committed to ensuring officers and staff understand stalking and its devastating impact so they can better respond to incidents reported to us.
DCC Baker said training on cross-referencing incidents and crimes will take place and an IT system which collates data is being purchased.
The events are also subject to a multi-agency Domestic Homicide Review which is ongoing.
Between February 2018-February 2019, there were 832 recorded crimes of stalking across the force area, an increase of 174 per cent. The force is now eighth nationally for recorded volume of stalking cases.
