Police left Army to deal with stalking soldier who then slashed former girlfriend’s throat
A STALKING victim was murdered by her ex-boyfriend after police left it to the soldier’s Army superiors to warn him about his behaviour, a report has found.
Alice Ruggles, 24, had her throat slashed by Trimaan Dhillon, a signaller, in her shower after he broke into her home in October 2016. She had reported him to police days earlier, saying that he had hacked her social media accounts and begun hanging around outside her home late at night.
Northumbria Police told Miss Ruggles, of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, that they would issue Dhillon with a notice telling him he would be arrested if he contacted her again. But instead, they contacted Glencorse Barracks in Edinburgh, where Dhillon was based, and asked the Army to deal with the matter.
An officer spoke to Dhillon but told police it was not the Army’s job to issue warnings on its behalf.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has now ruled that the decision, one of a series of blunders, was against national policy. It found two officers had cases to answer for misconduct, while another was accused of unsatisfactory performance. Inspectors criticised officers for treating the case only as harassment, not stalking, and for asking Miss Ruggles if she wanted Dhillon arrested rather than deciding for themselves.
A week before the murder, an officer said he did not believe it necessary to arrest Dhillon because he lived 120 miles away and had not been violent or made direct threats. The IOPC said that logic was “not sound”.
Dhillon was jailed for life in April last year with a 22-year minimum term. Ms Ruggles’s mother, Dr Sue Hills, said she was satisfied with the IOPC findings.
She said mistakes by individual officers were a result of a broader misunderstanding by police of stalking.
Northumbria Police insisted lessons had been learnt, and thanked Miss Ruggles’s family for helping to develop new training for officers which was now being used around the country.