MY GIRL WOULD HAVE BEEN ALIVE TODAY
Anguish of murdered Regan’s dad as report reveals GMP failed to record 250 crimes a day
THE family of a mum allegedly murdered by her ex-partner believe she could have been saved if Greater Manchester Police had followed their own procedures.
Dave Tierney found his daughter Regan, 27, stabbed to death at her home in Walkden, Salford, on June 5 last year.
Mr Tierney is one of a number of people who believe there were failures in the way their cases were handled by the force.
It comes as a brutal inspection report revealed GMP is failing to record and therefore investigate thousands of crimes reported.
The report said the force failed to record 80,000 crimes in 12 months.
The police inspectorate, which has been raising concerns since 2016, said domestic violence and vulnerable victims is a particular concern.
One in four violent crimes reported to GMP is not being recorded, while one in three investigations are failing to meet basic standards in the way they are carried out, while also too often being slow.
In a statement, GMP have said they ‘always regret when a victim feels let down’. They added that due to ‘stretched resources’ officers must prioritise but have said they apologise if they ‘have not focused their resource’ onto cases ‘where there is a higher risk or threat’ involved.
The Manchester Evening News has spoken to people concerned in separate cases.
All of them felt let down by the way the crimes were handled by GMP.
Regan Tierney, 27, died at her home in Salford last year. Her former partner Daniel
Patten, 31, was found with critical injuries at the address following her death.
He died two days later.
Police said no-one else was involved in Regan’s death and a file of evidence is being prepared for the coroner.
But 18 months on, Dave and daughter Shannon are still trying to get answers over what happened.
They have raised a wide range of concerns about GMP’s contact with Regan prior to her death.
The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said it carried out an investigation that concluded in May.
An IOPC spokesperson said: “Our investigation into prior police contact with Regan Tierney and Daniel Patten was concluded in May 2020.
“We will consider issuing our findings after the future inquest. Our thoughts
remain with their families.”
Greater Manchester Police also opened its own internal investigation.
GMP did not respond to a request for comment on the status of that investigation.
Dave and Shannon are convinced there were failings in the way that GMP dealt with Regan’s case.
“My late daughter reported threats to kill her and domestic abuse towards her on numerous occasions over the years to the police,” said Dave.
“My other daughter Shannon also reported threats to kill her and her family [from Daniel Patten].”
But Dave says he believes those ‘reports were either not taken seriously or swept under the carpet by the authorities’.
“Regan rang the police in fear of her life two days before her murder, they couldn’t do anything so she asked me to ring,” he said.
“The police said it had to be the person in danger who has to ring, I explained my daughter had rang but was frankly brushed aside. I was then told they are hanging up on me as I was getting irate, the rest speaks for itself.”
The Tierney family allege Daniel Patten struggled to accept his relationship had ended. It is understood the night before her murder, Regan had updated her Facebook status to reveal she was in a new relationship and Mr Patten had found out.
“Regan said she was going to call police the night it happened – I think they were supposed to go round but they had another job,” said Shannon. “She texted me saying ‘how does he know?’ [about her new relationship] and that she’d told him if he didn’t stop sending messages she would send police.
“That was my last conversation with her. She wanted a domestic violence restraining order. My dad had printed off the form and it was there on the counter when he found her.”
Mr Tierney says the whereabouts of the paperwork for the domestic violence restraining order is now unknown.
The family’s concerns about the investigation were put to GMP.
The force redirected the Manchester Evening News to the IOPC for comment.