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Four Thames Valley Police (TVP) officers have been disciplined following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the force’s handling of a missing person report in July 2011.

Shaun Elliott, 43, who was described as a vulnerable adult, was reported missing by staff at the supported home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire where he was living on 8 July 2011. He had last been seen leaving to attend a dyslexia class in Maidenhead two days earlier.

On Sunday 10 July, the ambulance service was called to an address in Amersham to reports of an unwell man who was subsequently identified as Mr Elliott. He was taken to High Wycombe General Hospital where he died on Monday 11 January.

The IPCC investigated TVP’s handling of the missing person report, the decisions made and what actions officers took to find Mr Elliott. 

The investigation found that eight officers failed to comply with force policies in respect of a missing person investigation. Mr Elliott was graded as medium risk, but the investigation concluded that had the correct procedures been followed this would have been increased to high and officers would have attended at the property where Mr Elliott was eventually found.

IPCC Commissioner Derrick Campbell said:

“Shaun Elliott was a vulnerable adult who was reported missing to Thames Valley Police on 8 July 2011. Shaun was graded as a medium risk but officers failed to take on board his family’s repeated pleas to consider him as a high risk individual before he was discovered, seriously unwell, at an associate’s address.

“Our investigation found that key actions and checks in respect of a missing person enquiry were not carried out in a timely and thorough manner. The response was driven by information provided by Shaun’s family which, while invaluable, should also have been supplemented with information available on the force system.

“Had officers done the necessary checks and evaluated the medical evidence available on the MISPER database, we concluded that it was more likely than not that the risk assessment would have been increased to high and they could have carried out enquiries that could have led them to attend the property where Shaun was eventually found.

“These were basic investigative steps that were not carried out correctly which were compounded by a lack of supervision and what can only be described as a lax approach by senior officers to checking the actions of the constables tasked with investigating Shaun’s disappearance. Decisions were based on assumptions rather than fact, and proposed actions and decisions around Shaun’s risk assessment and the rationale for not escalating it to high risk were not documented.

“I hope the conclusion of the inquest and the findings of our report offer some closure to Shaun’s family. I can only begin to imagine how difficult the last two and half years have been for them.

“We have also made seven recommendations to Thames Valley Police around supervision, recording of information and the way in which information is provided to officers around medium risk missing persons.

“I am pleased that Thames Valley Police has accepted those recommendations in full and have begun to implement them.”

Inspector Kate Vandersteen, Inspector David Bryan, Inspector Michelle Ryan and acting Sergeant (now PC) Gary Nightingale have been given management advice after it was proven that their actions amounted to misconduct.

Misconduct was not proven against a sergeant and a constable.

An inspector had retired from the force and was therefore not subject to misconduct proceedings. A call handler had also left the force.

The IPCC’s investigation concluded in April 2013 and misconduct meetings took place in October 2013 but publication of the findings has awaited the outcome of an inquest into Mr Elliott’s death.

An inquest jury concluded that Mr Elliott’s death was alcohol / drugs related.

At the time of the IPCC’s investigation Inspector David Bryan was an acting Inspector and Inspector Michelle Ryan was a Sergeant.