Police worker's failures put women at risk of abuse

Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable has apologised for safeguarding failures that put women at continued risk of domestic abuse

A Chief Constable has apologised after a police worker's "dereliction of duty" led to women being put at risk of domestic abuse, including one who was the victim of attempted murder.

Ex-Wiltshire Police staff member, Gavin Hudson, 40, has been found guilty of six counts of gross misconduct following an investigation by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC).

Mr Hudson was found to have failed to research or pass on relevant information to Clare's Law applicants, which allows women to check if their partner has a history of domestic abuse. In one case, an applicant was later stabbed by her partner.

Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Catherine Roper said: "I am truly sorry this happened."

An investigation into Mr Hudson, who worked as a researcher for the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, known as Clare's Law, began in September 2023 following a referral from Wiltshire Police.

The IOPC found Mr Hudson had failed to properly examine Clare's Law applications and had told some applicants there was nothing on file about their partners when he had not carried out the proper checks on any police systems.

In one case in 2022, he failed to identify the subject had a record of domestic abuse, with the person going on to stab their partner several times the following year. They have since been jailed for attempted murder.

The IOPC said Mr Hudson would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had he not already resigned from the force in July 2024.

IOPC director Derrick Campbell, said: "Hudson did not follow Home Office guidance, and left several women unaware of the potential danger their partners presented to them.

"His dereliction of duty had real consequences as some of the women later suffered domestic abuse.

"Many of them said they would have ended their relationships had the information on their partners been disclosed to them."

'Undermined trust'

Wiltshire Police said it had reviewed 3,778 Clare's Law applications submitted between 2015-2023. A total of 33 failures were identified and had they not happened, further offending may have been prevented, the force added.

Mrs Roper said: "We have failed in our primary duty to protect people from harm, and I cannot overemphasise the depth of the apology I issued when we first found out about these critical service failures.

"Gavin Hudson's dereliction of duty has no doubt undermined the trust and confidence our communities have in our safeguarding processes, and I understand that.

"We have changed our leadership in this area of our organisation and now have more intrusive supervision of this process."

Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, said he is "deeply troubled" by the events.

"To the women affected – and to the wider public – I want to say: I am sorry. You were failed.

"The systems meant to protect you broke down and individuals did not do their duty to their fullest. That must never happen again."

Last year marked 10 years since Clare's Law was passed and more applications are being made to police forces than ever before.

For the year ending March 2024, there were 58,612 applications in England and Wales. By comparison, in 2018-19 there were 13,748.