Recommendation - Metropolitan Police Service, June 2026

The IOPC recommends that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) reviews and reinforces existing guidance to ensure that, where officers identify indicators of vulnerability or risk of self harm in suspects subject to bail, this information is appropriately recorded, shared with relevant partner agencies, and considered within existing safeguarding and risk management processes. This should include clear escalation pathways and emphasis on timely engagement with health and social care partners where responsibility and expertise for mental health support properly sit.

This is as a result of a Death or Serious Injury review in which the male is believed to have stabbed a female relative before taking his own life, while on bail for another incident the previous year. The male was on police bail, which had been extended a number of times, with no apparent additional contact relating to the safeguarding of either party.

This recommendation should help to strengthen the safeguarding and risk management considerations in relation to people with a heightened risk of self-harm whilst being subject to the re-bail process.