Gran was murdered af ter police ignored desperate 999 plea
Watchdog damns blundering call centre yet again
‘Terrible strain on our family’
IT took police almost 90 minutes to respond to a 999 call from a vulnerable grandmother who was later murdered.
Elizabeth Bowe’s death may have been prevented if officers had been dispatched sooner, a watchdog’s damning report stated yesterday.
It revealed that a controller at Bilston Glen, the police call centre in Midlothian, decided officers did not need to attend – despite the 50-year-old being on the force database as a vulnerable person.
Mrs Bowe was found seriously injured at her home in St Andrews, Fife, on September 17 last year.
She had been attacked by her brother and died three days later.
Last night, her family said: ‘The past year has put a terrible strain on the family and we now just want to move on with our lives. The circumstances of the death of Elizabeth, who was a caring mother and grandmother, was a shock to us all and we appreciate the support we have received.’
Mrs Bowe called police at around 8pm using her brother Charles Gordon’s mobile, to report that he had stolen her phone, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) report stated.
She said she was a vulnerable person in a ‘domestic violence situation’.
It is understood she was on the database because of violence allegations involving a former partner, who was in prison at the time of her mur- der. The call was categorised as a grade 2 priority, requiring a police response within 15 minutes. But after it was transferred to Police Scotland’s Area Control Room at Bilston Glen, it was downgraded.
At 8.12pm the controller left a voicemail message on her brother’s mobile stating: ‘Your brother is in the house. He has not stolen your phone.
‘The police are not going to attend... 999 calls are for emergencies only, certainly not for this type of incident.’
At 9.24pm that evening, Gordon called 999 to say he had killed his sister. Police immediately went to the property and found her seriously injured.
Gordon, 52, was jailed for life in July at the High Court in Glasgow for strangling his sister.
PIRC commissioner Kate Frame said: ‘Had Police Scotland timeously dispatched resources in accordance with their call priority system following Elizabeth Bowe’s 999 call one hour and 24 minutes earlier, officers may have arrived at her home prior to her receiving the injuries from which she died and prevented her death.’
The PIRC found the Bilston Glen controller did not check any other police database in respect of Mrs Bowe or her vulnerabilities. Recommendations have now been made to the Chief Constable.
Police Scotland last night offered its ‘sincere apologies’.
Assistant Chief Constable Nelson Telfer said: ‘Police Scotland accept the findings of the PIRC report and continue to ensure recommendations are implemented.
‘A revised process is now in place for incidents where vulnerability is identified which ensures closer supervisory scrutiny.’
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said police had ‘highlighted a number of improvements being made... including risk and vulnerability training to over 800 staff’.