The case of the sacked detective.

Someone has finally been sacked for failing to prevent a murder. One of the reasons this story about a botched investigation has made it into headlines is because it involves a "Derbyshire Detective", which is just so catchy it is worthy of the evening news.

It does send a serious message though, about how we must deal with cases of harassment properly. The murdered woman had reported harassment on six occasions and the police DID NOTHING! I just can't believe it.

When I am in a motivated mood and on a good day, this is how I investigate harassment:

Step One
Report of harassment received and passed to PC Bloggs.

Step Two
PC Bloggs attends and discovers the following generic facts about all harassments:

• The nutter is an ex-partner.
• He is obsessive ("He" used for ease, and because men just can't let go).
• The word "Stalking" is used by the victim.
• Threatening text messages have been sent in their hundreds and yet the victim has not changed their mobile phone number or blocked the nutter's number.
• The victim's new partner has been warned off.
• On several occasions the nutter has driven past the victim's address in a harassing manner.

Step Three
PC Bloggs divines telepathically that out of the ten identical cases she has dealt with this year, THIS is the one that is going to end in murder. More likely, she recognises that there is no way to avoid dealing with this job - she will have to take a statement. Statement taken, crime report created. On a really good day, PC Bloggs gets statements from family members testifying to the harassment.

Step Four
PC Bloggs arrests the nutter. In interview, he says that the victim texted him just as often and called him, and he just happened to drive past her house those times on the way to work. He cries during interview and says he loves her (not PC Bloggs, the victim - usually).

Step Five
CPS deliberate, cogitate and digest, and with persuasion from a motivated PC Bloggs, agree to charge the nutter, although it goes against their better instincts. The decision is only swung by the use of the words "escalating pattern of domestic violence" and "likely to end in a serious incident" by PC Bloggs (who has been brushing up on her Investigative Jargon).

Step Six
The custody sergeant remands the nutter in custody to prevent any further harassment.

Step Seven
The courts release the nutter on bail.

Step Eight
The nutter behaves for a couple of weeks during his bail period, turns up in court and pleads guilty for a lower sentence. He is given a suspended sentence and a restraining order which he has ignored before setting foot on the pavement, and released back into the victim's neighbourhood.

I have no idea whether Derbyshire's investigation followed this course, but I suspect this happened at some point. At the end of all this, step nine is:

Step Nine
Seeing the nutter outside her house again, the victim makes a complaint, not about the courts but about PC Bloggs.

The alternative Step Nine is that the victim is murdered and PC Bloggs goes off with STRESS. In either event, not much happens to the magistrate involved.

Derbyshire may well have utterly cocked up this investigation and caused this poor woman's death. Unfortunately the chances are that even if they had done everything in their power, she still would have been killed.

The point is: If you are being harassed, DO NOT call the police, just uproot your entire life and move away under a new name. Trust me, it's the only way.

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