NORTH Wales Police has been accused of “incompetence” after it took three hours to escalate a 999 call from a teenager who was later found dead along with his friend in Eryri.
The bodies of Jayden Long, 19, and Eddie Hill, 20, from Dereham in Norfolk, were found on the Crib y Ddysgl ridge on February 19.
While an inquest, held in Caernarfon on Thursday (September 10), heard North Wales Police was found not to be responsible for their deaths, a coroner issued the force with a Prevention of Future Deaths report.
Mr Long’s father, Stephen, said he found it “absolutely appalling” that, in his opinion, North Wales Police had taken “no responsibility”.
A 999 call, thought to be from Crib y Ddysgl, had been made from Mr Long’s mobile phone at 4.27pm on February 18, but was abandoned.
During the call, Mr Long said “hello?” and “can you hear me?” before contact was lost, while there was “muffled” sound, and no names given.
Police made unsuccessful attempts to re-contact Mr Long, but did not alert Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team about this until 7.37pm that evening, before later passing on a message from a relative concerned for their welfare.
Overnight searches were carried out in snowy conditions, and Mr Long and Mr Hill were found dead shortly after 11am the following morning.
DC James Lloyd, from North Wales Police’s professional standards department, said the incident “wasn’t escalated as it should have been”.
While he said further information would have been required prior to launch a mountain rescue team operation, such as the 999 caller’s identity, he accepted the call was “identified as a potential mountain rescue team request initially”.
“I have not found that North Wales Police caused or contributed to the deaths of Eddie Hill and Jayden Long,” DC Lloyd said.
“(But) there does not appear to have been any escalation of the incident when contact could not be established.
“Greater information should have been shared with the mountain rescue team, and learning has been provided as to that.”
Mr Long’s father criticised DC Lloyd’s report, prepared in advance of the inquest, and said it contained “lots of grey areas”.
He told DC Lloyd: “You went against your own protocols of a ‘priority one’ call.
“From what I’ve read and from what you’ve said, you can’t guarantee this won’t happen again.”
DC Lloyd said all four control room operators involved in the incident have been “spoken to,” and have been advised to escalate any similar incidents in the future to a supervisor.
Mr Long’s father added: “The 999 call should have been passed to the mountain rescue team at about 4.30pm. Several hours were lost because of, frankly, four people’s incompetence.
“There is no responsibility here at all, which I find absolutely appalling. There is clear fault, and you’re not taking accountability as a public body.”
DC Lloyd added: “I do agree that those checks weren’t done. The service provided wasn’t acceptable.”
Asked why the identity of a person making a 999 call matters, he said: “We do need to know who we’re looking for. There’s basic information that we do need.”
DI Stewart Bartlett, also from the force’s professional standards department, said the Independent Office for Police Conduct found that no officer committed a criminal offence, or one which would warrant a misconduct hearing.
But he acknowledged that individuals in the control room did not notify a supervisor, pass details to the mountain rescue team, ask for checks to be commenced on any possible intelligence, or make “golden hour considerations”.
Sarah Riley, assistant coroner for North West Wales, recorded a conclusion of accidental death, and a cause of death of multiple traumatic injuries, having found that Mr Hill and Mr Long fell down, steep mountainous terrain in adverse weather.
“I am concerned by the lack of action taken by North Wales Police in response to Jayden’s discontinued 999 call at 4.27pm,” she said.
“Witnesses were not able to detail the routine steps taken to ensure that the force handles calls appropriately.”
North Wales Police must respond to the Prevention of Future Deaths report within 56 days.
Share