The PSNI has issued new guidelines to all its Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs) after a Police Ombudsman investigation found significant failures in the police investigation of a suspicious death.
Two detectives have also been disciplined for failing to properly investigate the circumstances which led to the death of a 52-year-old man in west Belfast on 1 July 2010.
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The man's body was discovered on the floor of a flat where, the previous night, he and a number of other people had been drinking.
He had a wound to his face and a doctor and police officer who attended the scene considered that there may be grounds for concern as to how he died.
However, a Police Ombudsman investigation has found that a subsequent decision by two detectives to treat the death as non-suspicious led to the loss of potentially vital evidence.
The Acting Senior Director of Investigations at the Police Ombudsman's Office, Pete O'Sullivan, said: "The decision to treat the death as non-suspicious meant that a series of investigative steps were not taken.
"The scene was not adequately examined, no photographs were taken, either of the deceased or the scene, and no items were recovered by the crime scene investigator for further examination.
"As a result evidence which may well have been crucial to understanding the circumstances of the death was irrevocably lost."
It became apparent that the scene should not have been released by police when, on the day after the death, a post-mortem examination found that Man A had injuries consistent with him having been assaulted.
Death was found to have been caused by a blow to the rear of the head, consistent with a fall. Police then launched a murder enquiry.
By that stage, however, the scene of death had been compromised. When police returned to the flat they found three people in the property - including two who lived there (Witnesses A and B), and who were subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder. Some cleaning had taken place within the flat.
Following the subsequent PSNI investigation, a file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service, which directed that no one should face any charges in relation to Man A's death.
While Mr O'Sullivan said that while it transpired that there was insufficient evidence to sustain a murder charge, the man's family should have received a better service from police.
"The earliest stages of an investigation are its most vital. It is then that evidence is as fresh and undisturbed as possible. All these opportunities were lost when police decided to release the scene on the basis that the death was not suspicious.
"While anyone can make a wrong judgement call, where there is any suggestion that a death may have been suspicious, as in this case, police should err on the side of caution and conduct all necessary enquiries."
When interviewed by Police Ombudsman investigators, the police officer who judged the death not to have been suspicious said there had been no signs of a struggle or forced entry. She considered that the injuries to the deceased were superficial and formed the belief that the death was not suspicious. She said she was also aware that Man A suffered from a heart complaint.
Having made that assessment Officer A rang her supervisor (Officer B) and appraised him of the situation. Officer B did not visit the scene, but agreed that it could be handed back to uniformed police to progress other aspects of the investigation.
Officer A then took the keys from the occupants of the flat and told them not to return to the property until police had contacted them.
Having reviewed the police handling of the investigation, the Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, recommended that Officers A and B be disciplined for failing to properly investigate the death. Both officers have since been disciplined.
In addition, although Mr Hutchinson is unable to investigate civilian employees of the police, such as CSIs, he wrote to the PSNI's Scientific Support Manager about the failures by the CSI in this case.
He recommended that in future adequate notes and photographs should be taken by CSIs at the scene of every sudden or suspicious death. New guidelines incorporating this guidance have since been issued to all CSIs in Northern Ireland.
