Mia Gregson murder: Police 'failed to spot risk' to toddler

Mia Gregson was murdered at her home in Hull in February 2014

A report into how police dealt with a 999 call weeks before a toddler was murdered has concluded that officers could have done more.

Mia Gregson was smothered by her mother's partner Jonathan Garner at her home in Hull in February 2014.

Three weeks earlier two officers went to the house after a neighbour reported hearing a man shouting at a child for several hours.

A police watchdog said officers "failed to adequately assess the risk posed".

Garner, 26, was jailed for life after he was convicted at Sheffield Crown Court in November 2019 of murdering 23-months-old Mia .

Her mother Samantha Gregson, 26, was jailed for four years for allowing her daughter's death.

Jonathan Garner was convicted of murdering Mia Gregson

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the two officers "failed to complete basic... intelligence checks, carry out house-to-house enquiries and complete a safeguarding referral regarding their visit and as such failed to adequately assess the risk posed to Mia Gregson".

The IOPC said both officers attended a disciplinary meeting in August 2015 but "neither officer was found to have a case to answer for misconduct".

Det Supt Matt Baldwin from Humberside Police said he accepted the officers could have asked more questions and carried out intelligence checks, but said it was not "a forgone conclusion" additional checks would have prevented Mia's death.

"Just to say there are other options doesn't mean to directly link the fact that if those options are taken we are able to safeguard a two-year-old child," he said.

"We accept what the IOPC suggest the officers could have done, but I also know the officers were presented with a set of circumstances and like all police officers have to make decisions on what they're faced with."