Suzanne Cammell

Sara Thornton CBE QPM
CHIEF CONSTABLE

Thames Valley Police Headquarters
Kidlington
Oxon OX5 2NX

Tel: (01865) 846002
Fax: (01865) 846057

ST/EA/letters/2014/Salter sa. 16 October 2014

j atoms

Mr D M Salter i CO ea
HM Senior Coroner j at ame OFFICE
Oxfordshire Coroner’s Office di

The Oxford Register Office OCT 2014

2" Floor, 1 Tidmarsh Lane ee

Oxford, OX1 1NS (6

Dear Mr Salter.

Thank you for your letter of 28 July 2014 in respect of the issue of a Regulation 28
Report following the Inquest touching the death of Ms Suzanne Cammell.

I note that that the issue of concern for TVP appears to relate to communication
between this force and Gloucestershire Police and that, in particular, “specific
information, of a high risk nature, was not or may not have been passed by TVP to
Gloucestershire Police or, if it was, it may not have been made availabie to I

- ! understand that, at Inquest, you did not have available to you details of
the specific information passed by TVP Control Room to Gloucestershire in the early
hours, which subsequently led _ of Gloucestershire and his colleague
carrying out the welfare check. | gather therefore that the concern is that while

based on the information from TVP, carried out a prompt welfare check, he

might not have had information which could have affected his decision in relation to
the degree of intervention required.

a our Professional Standards Department has carried out a thorough
review of this matter, in the course of which he has consulted with senior colleagues
from the Control Room & Enquires Department, the Force Intelligence Bureau and
the Partnership Team (which covers mental health).

With regard to the question of the information passed from TVP to Gloucestershire,
EEE incings may be summarised as follows:-

. On Thursday 3 October 2013 at 0120hrs TVP was notified that an elderly

female was wandering around on her own in the direction of Burford town
centre. The caller, was concerned for her welfare.
At 0122hrs it was recorded that tated that Ms Cammell was trying —

to get under lorries parked up in a lay-by. He had woken her and she had
walked off.

. ER 2 tended and found Ms Cammell hiding behind a hotel,

her explanation being she was scared of people who were following her.
These were established to be lJ and his 2 friends.

3 HE accepted that response but, being concerned for Ms Cammell’s

well-being, spoke to her at length. She found her to be at no immediate risk
and also identified that she had her car, a silver Jaguar, parked in the lay-by.

and it was decided that for Ms Cammell’s own safety EEBand

4. .:: joined by Fe and |

©

should take her back to her home address of 15 The Stables,
Lechlade Gioucestershire.

The officers took Ms Cammell home - a residential complex where she lived
alone. They found her home to be to be clean and tidy and, having no further
concerns, they left.

At 0230hrs, Thames Valley Police Control Room made contact with
Gloucestershire Police Control Room to inform them of the action that had
been taken, advising that she had been left alone at home but appeared to
be alright.

At 0245hrs Gloucestershire Police control room contacted Police Sergeant
He was asked to view their log and, at 0253hrs, along with

another officer, he attended the home of Ms Cammell. At 0348hrs fac

reported that Ms Cammell was safe and well and that he had no concerns.

. At 0543hrs fF of TVP made an additional call to Gloucestershire

Police control room, as she had been unable to do so earlier due to other
commitments. She told them that, earlier that morning, she had seen Ms
Cammell wandering around a golf course / hotel. She told Gloucestershire
about the circumstances of finding her. enquired with
Gloucestershire Police if Ms Cammell was known to them and suggested that
bi need to complete an Adult Protection referral. It would appear that
en unaware of the contact between the two contro! rooms at
0230hrs.

At 0705hrs Thames Valley Police received a call from a member of the public
stating that there was a dead woman in the lay-by at Burford and that it
looked like her head had been run over. The deceased was later confirmed to
be Ms Suzanne Cammell.

K

10. The Independent Police Complaints Commission was immediately informed
and attended the scene, as this was a death following recent police contact.
The decision from the IPCC following their scene Besecemeyt was, tha
matter was suitable for local investigation. s was dealt with by

Thames Valley Police Professional Standards.

11.Enquires later revealed that Ms Cammell had suffered from depression from
the age of 19. Furthermore, it was established that on 23 September 2013,
in the Gloucestershire Police Area, Ms Cammell was subject to detention
under $136 of the Mental Health Act, having been seen placing her head
under the wheels of a lorry. This information had subsequently been recorded f
in the Police National Database (PND).

12 EE from Gloucester Police carried out the later welfare check on Ms
Cammell and, in his evidence at the inquest, said that he was unaware that
she had been found lying underneath a lorry earlier that night and that if he
had know this he would have made arrangements for a mental health
assessment. He also gave evidence that he was unaware of the incident on
the 23° of September, despite the fact it was on the PND and the
Gloucestershire intelligence database.

13 review has examined the call from | It found that =
[ told the TVP control room that Ms Cammell had been trying to get —

under a lorry and records of radio traffic confirm that this information was |

passed to the attending TVP officers. In his call J made reference to
iq his waking up the lady as he had concerns that the lorry could drive away ,
| with her under the tyres.

| 14. The call from Thames Valley Police Control Room to Gloucestershire, Police
if control room has also been reviewed. It has been established that the TVP
Officers asked their control room to call Gloucester Police and advise them of
the incident involving Ms Cammell.
45, The information conveyed to Gloucestershire Police included that Ms i
| Cammel! had been found in Burford in a confused state and that the F /
informant was concerned as Ms Cammell had been trying to get
underneath lorries and that TVP officers had taken her home. i

16.The TVP call taker was asked what Ms Cammell was like when she was) © é
dropped off and replied that it was difficult to say from the log but that there
were no medical concerns.

17.It is clear from the conversation between both control rooms that
_ Gloucestershire Police had previous knowledge of Ms Cammell, with their call
| taker commenting ‘Check conducted on name and address. Check revealed
, the lady has problems/mental heaith issues’.

18.During the conversation between the control rooms the Gloucestershire
officer said, “Okay, alright then.....but you don’t want us to do actually do
anything then?’ The Thames Valley officer replied “Well | dont know
whether.....it's worth making your local mental health team aware....! probably
would do that to be honest.”

In summary, it would seem that TVP informed Gloucestershire Police of the
concerns as reported by HMMM insofar as he had found Ms Cammell in a
confused state and that she had been trying to get underneath a lorry. Admittedly,
the information shared did not go into quite the detail reported _. who said
that he actually woke Ms Cammell while she was under a lorry and not simply that
she was trying to get_under one. | am not sure whether this would have made a
material difference to risk assessment when he visited Ms Cammell at
home. This would seem to be a matter for Gloucestershire but | hope | have at least
been able to clarify the information that was shared.

! understand that you posed to Gloucestershire a question in respect of the use of
the Police National Database and that they have covered this in their response.

Furthermore, | gather that at the Inquest you expressed concern in relation to a lack
of information sharing between the Professional Standards Department and the
officer who prepared the report for you. [J nas put in place measures to
address this. He has taken the liberty of making an appointment with you on 4
November 2014 to brief you on these measures and, of course, deal with any further
questions you might have in respect of the case of Ms Cammell.

| trust this has been of assistance but please do not hesitate to make contact should
you require any further information.

w
Sara Thornton
Chief Constable