Top cop: Our response to stabbings saved lives
THE police response to the spate of stabbings which saw one killed and seven injured earlier this month will be shown to have ‘saved lives,’ a top police chief has claimed.
And Chief Constable Dave Thompson also laid out an exact timeline of the events in the early hours of September 6, revealing the suspect left the city centre between attacks, rather than staying in one place.
West Midlands Police received criticism from some quarters following the incident, with Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood questioning why the suspect was not caught sooner and indicating that victim Jacob Billington could have been saved were there a quicker response from the police.
However, addressing such criticisms, Mr Thompson said he was proud of the response from West Midlands Police that night.
“I wanted to start by speaking about Jacob Billington and the survivors, one of whom remains critically ill,” he said, speaking at the Strategic Policing and Crime Board meeting this week.
“Everybody in the city of Birmingham is stunned by these terrible attacks. The fact the victims could have been any one of us or any one of those we love makes crimes like these seem very, very close to home.
“I believe it’s necessary to address some of the issues concerning West Midlands Police’s response.
“There has been criticism of the force because there is a belief the suspect was allowed to wander around the city centre for two hours between the first and final attack. The first three victims were reported to police between 12.31am and 12.52am on 6 September. At 1.23am the initial investigation identified links between the two incidents. There was then almost an hour’s gap until the next two incidents were reported to police.
“The next two attacks were reported to the police at 1.50am and 1.59am. Evidence presented to the court in this case will allege that the suspect left the city centre after the first three victims were attacked returning to another part of the city centre around an hour later where it is alleged the second two more incidents took place.
“This addresses why the prime suspect was not located between the two sets of incidents. As you will know, we always try to find suspects immediately after incidents.”
Addressing accusations that the police response to the attacks was not fast enough, Mr Thompson said: “The response times to the four clusters of attacks are based upon the time between receiving the emergency call, to officers arriving at the scene. To help understand the speed of our response, these are the times from when officers were allocated by the control room to the point the first officer indicated they had arrived:
First attack on one victim: We responded in seven minutes from the call being received. The first officers arrived three minutes after they had been allocated by the control room.
Attack two on two victims: We responded 13 minutes after the call was received. Officers arrived three minutes after allocation.
Attack three on two victims: We responded six minutes after the call was received. Officers arrive four minutes after allocation.
Attack four on three people: We responded seven minutes after the call was received. Officers arrive four minutes after allocation.
“The force duty inspector attempted to deploy every officer in the central area of the force as these calls came in and this was later extended to western and eastern clusters to make towards the city centre.
“Other specialist resources were deployed including multiple firearms officers, Taser units, traffic resources, the police helicopter and other police forces were placed on standby.
“This was in addition to working with the ambulance service on their response. I believe the prompt police and an equally swift ambulance response will be shown to have saved lives.”
THE family of a cyclist who was killed by a speeding driver have criticised his suspended sentence as “totally inadequate”. David McSkimming was driving his Porsche Boxster on Eastcote Lane, Solihull, in December 2018 when he fatally struck 51-year-old Anthony Satterthwaite, who was cycling in the opposite direction. Ex-RAF pilot McSkimming, 53, was given a suspended six-month prison sentence and 250 hours’ community service at Birmingham Crown Court after admitting causing death by careless driving.
Mr Satterthwaite’s wife and parents said the “paltry” sentence given to McSkimming, of Gainsborough
Crescent, Knowle, “had destroyed their faith in the justice system”.
Wendy Satterthwaite said: “The family had very justifiable expectations of a fair and honest sentencing decision in respect of a much-loved and irreplaceable member of our family who was killed on December 22, 2018. This did not happen.
“The judge handed out a totally