Two PSNI officers who searched a house in Co Derry for a missing man but failed to find his decomposing body have been disciplined.
Worried neighbours in the Strathfoyle area of Derry told police they were concerned for the man who had a drinking problem and had not been seen for a week.
But officers who searched the house, where windows were boarded-up and rubbish was half-a-metre deep, failed to find the man who by that stage was already dead.
A second search was carried out, and after a neighbour revealed that the man ate and slept in the sitting room of the building, his decomposing body was eventually located under a blanket on a sofa.
Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson, who investigated the September 2008 incident, today said: “I think there is a lesson for all of us in official organisations that vulnerable people, such as those dependant on alcohol, are still falling though the cracks in the system.
“If it was not for the persistence of the man’s neighbour the discovery of his body would have been delayed even further.”
The PSNI said it accepted his findings and would comply with his recommendations in the case.
The North’s police ombudsman investigators examined the house and found it in an extreme state of disrepair, with no working toilet, rubbish half a metre deep, with dead maggots in places.
The episode began on Sunday September 14th 2008, when a neighbour reported concerns for the man, who has not been named.
The neighbour reported the matter to police again the next day and officers were sent to the man’s home.
The Ombudsman said a police officer, who was about to go inside the house, was cautioned by a colleague about the poor state of the property, but that the officer nevertheless carried out a search without protective clothing or a torch.
The officer said the main living room windows were partially boarded up, the curtains were drawn and the lights were not working, all of which made visibility poor. The officers left the house without finding the body.
Police made additional inquiries with the North’s Housing Executive, responsible for social housing, and established that the man still lived at the property.
Despite inquiries with social services and attempts to contact the man’s family, police were not able to get any more information on his whereabouts. Local patrols were then asked to report any sightings of the man.
On Tuesday September 16th officers went back to the house to establish if the missing man had returned home.
A police officer who had previous knowledge of the house went inside and began an initial search, but without success. When he left the building, a neighbour told the officer that the man ate and slept in the living room and that a housing executive official had previously found him asleep under a blanket on the sofa.
The officer returned inside and successfully found the man’s decomposing body.
The Ombudsman, Mr Hutchinson, recommended that two police officers be disciplined: one for a failure to deal properly with the initial report made to police, the other was the officer who carried out the initial search.
Mr Hutchinson also recommended that police in the district be reminded about keeping an index of properties or locations which present issues of concern, including health and safety issues or the presence of vicious dogs.
PA