Police response to notify family of woman’s death – South Yorkshire Police, June 2020

On 6 June 2020, a woman was found dead in her ex-partner’s home in South Yorkshire. There was a delay of approximately 11 hours before South Yorkshire Police (SYP) notified the woman’s next of kin of her death. The woman’s parents subsequently made a complaint about the delay and the way they were notified of her death.

We obtained accounts from the SYP officers and police staff involved in the incident. We also obtained the relevant local and national policies and procedures. Our investigation considered the efforts made to identify the woman’s next of kin together with how the death notification was delivered to them.

Our investigation concluded there was no indication that any police officers or police staff may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. All were treated as witnesses.

We concluded our investigation in November 2021 and shared our report with SYP. They agreed that several officers should undergo reflective practice regarding the importance of communicating key information in an accurate, timely manner and the importance of a Dynamic Risk assessment to support family members in a distressed state.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

In this case, our investigation identified potential learning regarding dynamic risk assessments and welfare support following the death notification, which resulted in a national recommendation to the College of Policing.