An Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of 23-year-old Liam Allan, who drowned in the River Thames after escaping from Met Police officers who had arrested him, has made recommendations to the force.
A two-week inquest, held in front of a jury, ended today and determined that Mr Allan’s death was an accident.
The IOPC investigated police actions and decisions during their initial contact with Mr Allan in August 2022, the circumstances which led to him entering the river and the police response.
The IOPC says;
Throughout our investigation into the incident in south-west London there was no indication any officer had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or had committed a criminal offence.
On the night of Friday, the 26th of August 2022, two Met officers were flagged down to an apparent altercation on Kingston Bridge between a group of males, including Mr Allan.
They apprehended the three men and a woman, and it became apparent Mr Allan had a relationship with the woman and the two had been together that evening, potentially placing them both in breach of their respective pre-existing bail conditions.
One of the officers then spoke with Mr Allan separately from the woman and he was informed he was under arrest. He had a warning marker on his police record for ‘escaper’ and the officer failed to read that.
He then ran from the officer and immediately entered the Thames at Kingston Bridge and began to experience difficulty in the water.
The arresting officer shouted out to Mr Allan that he was ‘only making things worse for himself’ as he tried to encourage him back to the riverbank.
As the incident unfolded, the officers on the scene failed to notice a lifebuoy beside Mr Allan’s entry point to the river and the jury concluded this ‘possibly more than minimally contributed to his death.’
A throwline was used seven minutes after Mr Allan entered the water and approximately three minutes after he began to shout for help.
He was recovered from the water by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and London Fire Brigade and was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
The inquest jury concluded that there were some inadequacies by the police in Liam’s arrest and the unsuccessful rescue attempt which ‘probably more than minimally’ contributed to Liam’s death. Additionally, there were failures and omissions in the rescue of Liam that ‘possibly more than minimally’ contributed to his death.
IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: “We send our condolences to the family and friends of Liam Allan and all those affected by this incident.
“This was an extremely challenging situation where Liam had gone into the water at night-time and the officers at the scene attempted to communicate with him to persuade him to return to the riverbank.
“They all followed the Met’s policies and procedures by not entering the water, talking to Liam and then throwing a line to him. We note the jury concluded the arresting officer’s communication was unsuitable but that it did not contribute or only minimally contributed to Liam’s death, as it cannot be determined whether Liam would have responded to the communication.
“Unfortunately, as the incident was developing the officers did not check for a lifebuoy. A prompt to check for a lifebuoy, which usually comes from the control room, was sadly not forthcoming.
“We have made learning recommendations to the Met with the aim of preventing such an incident being repeated.”
Over the course of the investigation witness statements were taken from police officers, other emergency services who attended the scene and members of the public who witnessed the incident.
CCTV footage and police officers’ body-worn camera footage were analysed and compared, along with local and national policing policies, radio transmissions and call recordings.
The IOPC found individual learning for the six officers at the incident in relation to checking for buoyancy aids as part of their dynamic risk assessments when dealing with water-based incidents.
The IOPC has recommended the staff in the control room who dealt with the incident should receive refresher training on dealing with water-based incidents.
It also found organisational learning for the force, recommending that the Met should issue further guidance to remind its control room staff of the importance of using a system code to generate a prompt which can assist officers responding to a water-based incident.
