His Majesty’s Coroner for West Yorkshire has issued a new Preventing Future Deaths report after the suicide of serving police officer PC Martin Stubbs.
Mr Stubbs was arrested in late November 2022 by the Professional Standards Department of West Yorkshire Police, nine days after he received his Long Service / Good Conduct medal for 20yrs exemplary service. He died in late August 2024, almost two years after the arrest was made (and we don’t know how long the investigation had been ongoing, because it wouldn’t have necessarily begun on the day of his arrest). We also do not know the reason for Mr Stubbs’s arrest and therefore whether he accepted or disputed the allegation.
MATTER OF CONCERN
The Coroner’s single concern in the notice is about the duration of the investigation –
“Mr Stubbs’ father (a former officer himself and still a civilian police employee) expressed his firm belief that the length of time he had been suspended from duty had played a significant part in his son’s decision to take his life. It is a concern that someone subject to an internal disciplinary process has a legitimate expectation that that process will be dealt with expeditiously in the interests of all parties, and that that legitimate expectation was not met in Mr Stubbs’ case.
Mr Stubbs’ family do not understand whether the delay in concluding the process reflects resource issues or an institutionalised practice of allowing such matters to drift without proactive management to bring them to a conclusion. Anecdotally, Mr Stubbs’ family are aware of other long outstanding internal disciplinary proceedings and fear other families may have to go through an experience similar to theirs.”
Let’s finish by remembering what a Preventing Future Deaths report actually is:
A statutory notice issued because the Coroner is concerned that unless PSD / IOPC investigations are concluded in a more timely manner, more police officers will die – and tragically, we know Martin Stubbs was not the first officer to end their life whilst under investigation by PSD or the IOPC and I doubt he will be the last.
One administrative thought: will this tragedy count as a death after police contact? – the officer himself stated the way the investigation was conducted was a contributing factor to his decision to end his life and the Coroner has had some sympathy with that by issuing a statutory notice about the potential impact. I wonder whether there has been a DSI-referral (death or serious injury) to the Independent Office for Police Conduct about PSD’s handling of the case, given the circumstances?
We know many officers have been put through ridiculously disproportionate PSD / IOPC investigations which have gone on, quite literally, for years, for issues which don’t necessitate such timeframes at all. Whatever Mr Stubbs may or may not have done leading to his arrest, it comes after +20yrs of dedicated service to his country in the police and isn’t something which should lead to him feeling the only option left is to end his life.
Whatever happened here, Martin – thanks for the service you gave to West Yorkshire. That remains important and my thoughts are with his family and friends.
Winner of the President’s Medal, the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
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All opinions expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation.
(c) Michael Brown, 2024.
I am not a police officer.
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