Lazy British police missed desperate, screaming 999 call from murdered Chinese family, says watchdog report

Police missed a desperate, screaming 999 call from a teenage girl while she and her family where being murdered in their home, a report revealed yesterday.

University lecturer Jifeng Ding, 46, his wife Helen Chui, 47, and their two children, Xing, 18, and Alice, 12, were stabbed to death at their house in Pioneer Close, Northampton, on the day of the Royal Wedding.

But their bodies weren't discovered until two days later when a worldwide hunt was launched for prime suspect Anxiang Du, 52 - a former business partner of Helen.

An investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission has concluded that the way Northamptonshire Police handled the call was 'unacceptable' after analysing the chain of events from when Xing called them to say her parents were being attacked.

It found:

* The location from which the 999 call was made was incorrectly identified and disseminated by a police call handler, which led to the police focusing on the wrong address

* Insufficient checks were carried out to determine the correct address of the caller

* The call should have been graded as requiring an ‘immediate’ rather than a ‘priority’ police response

* The call was prematurely closed by a force control room supervisor without sufficient consideration or effort given to establish the welfare of the caller

The report said: 'The standard by which police handled the call was unacceptable. There was no clear force policy in place for handling abandoned 999 calls and the relevant call handler had received insufficient training.'

IPCC Commissioner Amerdeep Somal said: 'Our findings have to be viewed against a high volume of emergency calls the police deal with, but our investigation has found this particular 999 call was badly mishandled.

'An incorrect location for where the call originated from led to potentially crucial minutes of police time being wasted.

'And the recording of a specific, wrong address on the incident log misled officers into believing that all was apparently well when the reality was the extreme opposite.'

The IPCC investigation found that the force control room supervisor has a case to answer for misconduct as the decision to close the incident was taken without sufficient information or proper risk assessment.

It was decided that the actions of the relevant call handler were in part a consequence of organisational failings around a lack of policy and training and the member of staff would therefore be dealt with by the force for performance issues.

Comm Somal added: 'Force procedure dictates that screaming on an abandoned 999 call should elicit an immediate police response.

'Had police used more detailed checks and a mapping system available to them, the need for a subscriber check would have been established; the correct address in Pioneer Close would have been identified and in all likelihood attended by officers within minutes.

'I know Northamptonshire Police has reacted constructively to our findings by introducing new procedures in handling abandoned 999 calls in accordance with national guidance and retraining relevant staff.

'I would urge anyone with any information about the whereabouts of Mr Du to contact Northamptonshire Police in the interests of justice.'

'Had police used more detailed checks... the correct address would have been identified and in all likelihood attended by officers within minutes'

The civilian call handler has recently taken voluntary redundancy from Northamptonshire Police. The family of the Dings have been informed by the IPCC of its findings.

In a statement, Northamptonshire police said: 'The force recognises it was unlikely that the lives of the Ding family could have been saved, however there was a possibility that the main suspect, An Xiang Du, could have been at the address had the call been handled correctly and officers dispatched.

'Northamptonshire Police acknowledges that the response to the abandoned 999 call was unacceptable. The IPCC report recognises that the significant range of measures which Northamptonshire Police have already implemented means that no further changes are required.

'These measures include a clear policy and new guidance for the handling of abandoned 999 calls. All control room staff have been retrained in the handling of abandoned 999 calls.

'Northamptonshire Police has written to the immediate next of kin of the Ding family to apologise for the way the call was handled. This includes an invitation to receive this apology in person.

'We remain determined to bring the person responsible for this terrible crime to justice and the investigation into the whereabouts of the main suspect, Anxiang Du, continues to receive our full attention.'

An inquest into their deaths heard that Jifeng, Helen and Alice had to be identified by their dental records, while Xing was formally identified by her school mistress.

The cause of death for all four family members was recorded as stab wounds to the chest. Coroner Pember described the murders as 'vile and barbaric' acts.

Original report here




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