A POLICE inspector is to face a misconduct hearing over alleged failures in a search to find a mentally ill young man killed by a train.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has recommended West Midlands inspector Colin Baker should face disciplinary action over the 2020 death of Matthew Caseby, 23.
PAMatthew Caseby was left unattended for more than six minutes before absconding from Priory Hospital Woodbourne in Birmingham[/caption]
AlamyMatthew’s father Richard had travelled to Birmingham from London[/caption]
Personal fitness instructor Matthew was sectioned to Birmingham‘s Woodbourne Priory Hospital in September that year for his own safety after being found running on live train lines near Oxford.
An inquest in 2023 heard how he escaped from the psychiatric unit three days later by climbing over a 7ft 6in tall fence after being left “inappropriately unattended” in a courtyard and died 15 hours later.
Police were alerted following his escape, but Inspector Baker – in charge of overseeing the force’s 999 emergency response – is said to have assessed Matthew as being at “medium” risk of serious harm.
It meant a full-scale search was not carried out despite police being aware of Matthew’s mental health history and their logs stating he had threatened self-harm at the hospital before his escape.
The risk assessment was upgraded to ‘High’ the following morning when a new duty team took over 999 calls – but university graduate Matthew walked in front of a train two hours later.
Matthew’s father Richard had travelled to Birmingham from London to carry out his own search after hearing his son had escaped and was within 200 yards of him when he died.
Communications consultant Mr Caseby said last night: “I flagged down three patrol cars during the night of my search.
“Not a single officer knew anything about my son’s escape.
“West Midlands Police utterly failed my family when we needed them most.”
The police watchdog launched an investigation into police actions following a complaint from Matthew’s family.
An IOPC spokesman said: “Our investigation considered the initial risk assessments and subsequent reviews by officers, the actions taken to locate Matthew, and what consideration was given to concerns and information relayed by his parents.
“During the investigation, we reviewed documents provided as part of the inquest proceedings along with force and national policies on missing persons and mental health.
“We obtained statements from several witnesses and interviewed a police inspector under misconduct caution.
“At the end of our investigation, we provided our report and findings to the police force and Matthew’s father.
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“We decided that a police inspector should attend a misconduct meeting in relation to their decision making and handling of information after Matthew was reported missing.
“It is for West Midlands Police to arrange the disciplinary proceedings.
“We won’t be in a position to make public any further information until after the disciplinary process.”
The inquest jury concluded that Matthew’s death was contributed by failings of the Woodbourne Priory Hospital.
Last year the Priory Group was fined £650,000 at Birmingham magistrates’ court after admitting a charge of safety failures under the Health and Social Care Act.
It followed an investigation conducted into the circumstances surrounding Matthew’s death by the Care Quality Commission at the behest of his campaigning father.
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans for free on 16123.
Matthew was left alone in a courtyard at The Priory Woodbourne Hospital in Birmingham
BPMThe Priory Woodburne Hospital was slammed for a series of failures[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
