Leicestershire Police in the news again for all the wrong reasons

A police force has been told its handling of the murder of a vulnerable woman was "wholly inadequate" by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Joanne Butler, 38, died in January 2006 after a brutal attack by her neighbour and his teenage son.

She twice dialled 999 but Leicestershire Police failed to send an officer to her home in Earl Shilton.

Two other emergency calls were made in quick succession, one was from her killer, but still no-one was sent.

The IPCC report found that failures were made in the handling of all the calls, the last three were answered by the same person, but because of a number of technicalities no action can be taken against him.

Amerdeep Somal from the IPCC told Sky News: "In my view there was a case to answer for misconduct for the call dispatcher. He had the best information that night as to the predicament and what sort of response was required and made poor judgement in my view.

"However because of the late referral...in the intervening period the call dispatcher had left being a civilian member of staff and was now employed as a police officer. What that meant was that he did not have to co-operate with our investigation and he refused to do so."

Joanne Butler had a history of mental health issues and was known to the police.

On the night she died, vital background information on her could not be accessed by the call handler.

Joanne died from head injuries after being attacked with an axe, an iron bar and a sock filled with stones.

Joanne Butler's mother Pauline told Sky News: "On the night if somebody had gone round to my daughter's flat she might still be alive now, but all the calls were ignored or not dealt with, I'm horrified really."

This case was only referred to the IPCC after another tragedy occurred close to Joanne Butler's home.

Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her daughter after years of being victimised by local youths, she too was let down by many different agencies.

Even Leicestershire Police's late referral of this case to the IPCC was criticised.

But most stark is the conclusion from IPCC Commissioner Amerdeep Somal which could also have applied to the Pilkington case: "The saddest aspect is that at no stage did anyone appear to show any concern for Joanne."

Sky News

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Woman Killed After Police Ignored 999 Calls

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12:05pm UK, Wednesday March 02, 2011

Darren Little, Midlands correspondent
A police force has been told its handling of the murder of a vulnerable woman was "wholly inadequate" by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Joanne Butler, 38, died in January 2006 after a brutal attack by her neighbour and his teenage son.

She twice dialled 999 but Leicestershire Police failed to send an officer to her home in Earl Shilton.

Two other emergency calls were made in quick succession - one from her killer - but still no-one was dispatched.

The IPCC report found that failures were made in the handling of all the calls. The last three were answered by the same person but for technical reasons no action can be taken against him.

IPCC commissioner Amerdeep Somal from the IPCC told Sky News: "In my view there was a case to answer for misconduct for the call dispatcher. He had the best information that night as to the predicament and what sort of response was required and made poor judgement in my view.

"However, in the intervening period the call dispatcher had left being a civilian member of staff and was now employed as a police officer. What that meant was that he did not have to co-operate with our investigation and he refused to do so."

The saddest aspect is that at no stage did anyone appear to show any concern for Joanne.

IPCC Commissioner Amerdeep Somal

Joanne Butler had a history of mental health issues and was known to the police.

On the night she died vital background information on her could not be accessed by the call handler.

Joanne died from head injuries after being attacked with an axe, an iron bar and a sock filled with stones.

Her mother Pauline told Sky News: "On the night if somebody had gone round to my daughter's flat she might still be alive now, but all the calls were ignored or not dealt with, I'm horrified really."

Fiona Pilkington

The case bears a strong resemblance to that of Fiona Pilkington

This case was only referred to the IPCC after another tragedy occurred close to where Joanne lived.

Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her daughter after years of being victimised by local youths. An inquiry found she was badly let down by various agencies.

Even Leicestershire Police's late referral of this case to the IPCC was criticised.

But most stark is the conclusion from Ms Somal which could also have applied to the Pilkington case.

"The saddest aspect is that at no stage did anyone appear to show any concern for Joanne," she said.

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How sad is this? How could the call dispatcher refuse to help the inquiry as he is now a policeman? LP were even criticised for taking too long to refer the case to the IPCC. Bungling Portuguese cops? People need to look far closer to home.

Rant over.

How sad is this? How could the call dispatcher refuse to help the inquiry as he is now a policeman?

and especially as he is at least partly responsible for the death of that poor woman, if that had been my negligence i would never have been able to sleep at night ever again.

She twice dialled 999 but Leicestershire Police failed to send an officer to her home in Earl Shilton.

Two other emergency calls were made in quick succession - one from her killer - but still no-one was dispatched.

The article also says that vital background information on her could not be accessed by the call handler. So, before they send someone out to investigate, they want to have background information? I would hope that if I rang the police to say I was in danger, that they would not be messing about trying to find background information.

LP did not send anyone out, in spite of all those calls and they only reported it to the IPCC when another case came to light. Shocking and thoroughly shameful. An absolute disgrace.

A sad story and a death that could have been prevented. Could the police be referred to as "bungling" or should it just be "we don't give a damn?"

Topics merged

AnnaEsse wrote:

She twice dialled 999 but Leicestershire Police failed to send an officer to her home in Earl Shilton.

Two other emergency calls were made in quick succession - one from her killer - but still no-one was dispatched.

The article also says that vital background information on her could not be accessed by the call handler. So, before they send someone out to investigate, they want to have background information? I would hope that if I rang the police to say I was in danger, that they would not be messing about trying to find background information.

LP did not send anyone out, in spite of all those calls and they only reported it to the IPCC when another case came to light. Shocking and thoroughly shameful. An absolute disgrace.

It most certainly is ....... I have said for a long time that Leicester police needs disbanding. They should immediately scrap everybody above constable and start again. And not allow any officers from Birmingham, NSY or West Yorkshire to go anywhere near the place until it is up and running! This is very important.

It should never have been allowed to get to this stage. I believe before these emergency
calls they had tried on numerous occasions before that to get help from the Police and
were repeatedly ignored! Was that because the coppers were too busy watching their
porn movies still which they were exposed as doing in the past.

No they wre too busy making sure the McCann website link was still on the page. What a difference in treatment, someone whose life is in terrible fatal danger is ignored, other vulnerable people die, and a parent who leaves their three children under 4 in an unlocked apartment to go out on the lash with friends allowing one to disappear gets a standing ovation, says it all to me. Bungling doesnt come into it. jimo.

tanzi...
i fully agree with your post.
it is this sort of occurence that gives me sleepless nights,
how on earth are we supposed to hace faith in our police forces,
if this type of thing is happening..

I got chatting to an ex Detective on the Flight to Tenerife and asked what he thought of the McCann Case. He said everyone at his Station thought the
McCanns guilty but the sticking point was how they disposed of the body, burial at Sea seemed the only conclusion.

He had no time for the Portugese Detectives, said they had allowed the Mccanns with their Daily Press releases to dominate the investigation and if there had been a recon while the McCanns were still in Portugal there might have been a result.

Interestingly, he was also scathing of LP, said since Madeleiene was a Ward of Court, although the PJ led the case the LP had a duty to play a more
active part because Madeleiene was a British Citizen.

i think a lot of people are scathing of the LP especially because they
linked the "Fund" to their website.

cherry wrote:i think a lot of people are scathing of the LP especially because they
linked the "Fund" to their website.

Hi cherry,
the worst offender was Stuart Prior who received an email from one of the Tapas group asking what he thought about the recon. He replied that he didn2t see much point.....can you believe it.!!!!!

I"m half watching Derren Brown, he really is extraordinary and would have solved the McCann case by now.

where are columbo and his scabby wee dug when you need them! they'd have cracked it in 3/4 of an hour on a sunday afternoon.