Cambridgeshire Police needed to be 'more diligent' before death

Cambridgeshire Police should have linked two alleged incident of domestic violence the review found

A police force should have been "more diligent" before a victim of domestic abuse took his own life, a report said.

Fenland Safer Community Partnership carried out a Domestic Abuse Death Review into 55-year-old "Barry", who died in September 2020.

The report said ongoing domestic abuse from his partner "may have been a contributory factor" in his death.

Cambridgeshire Police told the review it was "making strides to improve their approach to tackling domestic abuse".

According to the report Barry had been a victim of domestic abuse for approximately six months while in a relationship with "Sally".

"The pattern of behaviour, escalated from common assault to [actual bodily harm] which was only just becoming apparent to the police a month before his death," the report said.

It highlights two incidents where Barry was allegedly assaulted just days apart a month before he died.

'Issues identifying male victims'

The report said an incident on 19 August 2020 where it was alleged Sally was "punching and kicking Barry to the back and head area multiple times" could have been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

He suffered a further alleged assault 11 days later, when he told police he was headbutted by Sally and "was scared of her".

The incident should have been linked with the earlier one and "tasked with greater importance", the report said. No further action was taken over either of the suspected attacks.

The review concluded Cambridgeshire Police "should have dealt with [the alleged assaults] more diligently and expeditiously".

But the report said his family told the review that "throughout most of his adult life he did often have suicide ideation".

Barry's family and Sally said they tried but were unable to get Barry "to seek the specialist professional help that they felt he required", the report said.

It also said "issues around identifying and supporting male victims are common and this is an area that specialist services need to consider further".

Cambridgeshire Police provided evidence to the review on improvements it had made to tackling domestic abuse.

It included providing early intervention by "improving victim engagement" and a new team dedicated to protecting vulnerable people.

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