Police missed dying man

Aug 8 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

AN emergency call handler has been criticised by a police watchdog after officers responding to information she provided failed to find an injured man.

Robert Haigh, 41, was found dead from head injuries by a passer-by 90 minutes later in a County Durham stream.

Police officers had earlier been sent to look for Mr Haigh, after a 999 call from a young woman who was worried about his condition.

The caller advised that Mr Haigh appeared drunk or on drugs, had hit his head on a lamppost and was last seen walking towards Woodham Burn.

However the officers who were dispatched in response to that call could not find him.

It transpired that Mr Haigh, who had a history of alcohol problems, had blood-alcohol levels in excess of five times the legal drink-drive limit when he died.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigated the handling of the 999 call and the subsequent response.

The investigation found that the call handler failed to pass on the information that Mr Haigh had apparently suffered a head injury, was near water and that the 999 caller had left a contact telephone number.

As a result, the officers who responded to the call did not have a precise location to search and were unaware that contact details were available for the 999 caller.

IPCC Commissioner Gary Garland said: “Police call handlers have a vital role to play in ensuring all relevant information is recorded and disseminated to give officers attending scenes as many facts as possible to assist them.

“In this case a call handler was dealing with a young person who had dialled 999 and there was confusion over the information supplied. The call handler was also concerned about the young person and the potential that she was near to a man who was drunk or on drugs.

“However, there is no escaping the fact that some key information was missed. This was not due to some malicious or deliberate act, rather it was due to simple human error – a mistake. There is no suggestion the outcome would have been any different.”

A spokesman for Durham Police said: “We note the report and have acted on it. We also undertook proactive steps during the course of the investigation to ensure the supervising officer in the force control room is notified whenever a caller has cause for concerns about an individual.”

An inquest held into Mr Haigh’s death yesterday returned a verdict of accidental death.