Dear Mr. Haigh

I write in reference to your Regulation 28 notice of 30 July 2021 with regard to the death of Amanda Dunn.

Firstly, I want to express my deepest condolences to the family of Mrs. Dunn and can report that Staffordshire Police have reviewed the full circumstances of her death and those leading up to it, including events back to January 2019. Having conducted a review of Staffordshire Police contact with Mrs. Dunn it has been established that there were six occasions between 14 January 2019 and 18 December 2020 when Mrs. Dunn was mentioned, namely 14 January 2019, 12 April 2019, a second occasion on 12 April 2019, 13 November 2019, 6 August 2020 and 18 December 2020.

Of those six occasions Mrs. Dunn contacted Staffordshire Police twice, namely on 13 November 2019 and 6 August 2020, when she reported anti-social behaviour by her neighbour including on 13 November mention of being pushed by her neighbour. Aside from this on 12 Apr 2019 police officers spoke with Mrs. Dunn who described difficult relations with her neighbours. The other dates when Mrs. Dunn was mentioned were when her neighbours contacted Staffordshire Police or a report was made to “Crimestoppers” and reference was made to her. The final date that Staffordshire Police had contact with Mrs. Dunn was 21 Mar 2021 when they attended her property and she was found to be deceased.

The examination of this chronology of events has identified some areas where the police could and should have performed better. This includes the important role of the police to make and record referrals to partner agencies, including mental health services to provide a better understanding of the entire circumstances and their impact.

In addition, the police did not respond effectively to the allegation of a criminal offence (the pushing incident). We have found no material where the police have confirmed, recorded or explored this allegation. This learning has been promptly shared with colleagues who are responsible for neighbourhood policing, the thematic business lead for anti-social behaviour as well as the specific officers responsible for the area in which Mrs. Dunn lived.

More broadly, the Force is reviewing whether there are any similar repeat cases of anti-social behaviour which have been reported to Staffordshire Police that involve vulnerable people. The aim of this work is to identify any cases that have been reported to Staffordshire Police which need additional work, in response to these findings. The second aim is to examine our systems and processes to ensure we provide a consistently good level of service to those people who report matters of anti-social behaviour.

A criminal investigation has commenced and is being carried out by the Force’s Criminal Investigation Department. This investigation will look at any potential criminal offences committed against Mrs Dunn and her family. Mrs Dunn’s family have been listened to and their concerns have been comprehensively recorded. Due to the live and on-going status of this I am unable to expand further, however, at the conclusion I can provide an update to you.

The circumstances of this case have also been assessed and considered by the Professional Standards Department, who have concluded that no misconduct has been identified.

Finally, the police are keen to understand if further information was known by partner agencies and if broader partnership learning can be achieved through wider understanding of this case. Consequently we have written to colleagues within the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board.

Once all of the information is available we will assess it to identify any learning opportunities. This work will take a little longer to complete as it involves the combined effort of partner agencies, but again, once completed it can be shared with you.

I want to reassure you that we take this matter very seriously and are committed to ensuring that the learning from this case is captured, understood and disseminated in a way that prevents future re-occurrences.

Dear Mr. Haigh

With reference to your Regulation 28 notice of 30 July 2021 and my response dated 23 September 2021 with regard to the death of Amanda Dunn, I have further information that you need to be aware of.

In my response dated 23 September 2021, I explained that the circumstances of the case had been assessed and considered by Staffordshire Police’s Professional Standards Department, who concluded that no misconduct had been identified.

I wish to update you that the case met the criteria for a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). Following our referral, the IOPC commenced an independent investigation and will update us in due course. Amanda’s family are aware of this and have been provided with the relevant contact details.

Please accept my sincere apologies for not informing you of this at the time and I will of course update you when we receive their findings.