Failures to gather evidence let domestic abusers go free
IN a scene which could have come straight from the movie 101 Dalmatians, an army of bearded collies answered a call of duty to find one of their own.
More than 40 dogs took part in the search for missing Arran – barking as they bounded through woods in the hope he would reply.
In the iconic animated 1961 movie the parents of stolen Dalmatian puppies alert other dogs with “the twilight bark”.
In this case, six-year-old Arran’s owner, Madeleine Fear, put out a desperate appeal for help on social media.
Arran had bolted during a walk in woods near Verwood, Dorset.
The highly co-ordinated search lasted two days and two nights, with some “Beardie” owners and their pets braving
POLICE and prosecutors are allowing thugs to avoid domestic violence charges by wrongly assuming their victims will testify in court.
Officers are accused of failing to gather enough evidence to maintain a prosecution should the partner withdraw their evidence at a later stage.
A justice report claims that one in five cases dropped when a victim withdrew their support could still have been pursued as an “evidenceled inquiry”.
The document claims investigators should have cast their net wider and developed back-up lines of inquiry to allow for their main witness being too scared to proceed.
Some 78 domestic abuse cases were examined – from the Hertfordshire, Cheshire, Gwent and Staffordshire police areas – where officers had taken no further action after the victim’s testimony was withdrawn. They freezing temperatures and sleeping out in cars.
One bearded collie owner made a 160-mile round trip from Guildford, Surrey, to search for Arran, who has been accepted for this year’s Crufts.
Madeleine, who breeds bearded collies, said: “The people of Verwood and the Beardie owners who travelled to help have been amazing.
“The bearded collies were barking during the search and trying to alert one of their own.
“There were more than 100 people looking for Arran, even late at night in the woods.
“Even though it was -6C one night we slept in our cars because we were so desperate. I was so worried because he went missing near a busy road.” Kindhearted dog owners also helped hand out more than 200 missing posters around Verwood – and that was how Arran was eventually found.
A woman rang Madeleine to say he was in the back garden of her home in the town.
Madeleine, 43, from Bransgore, Hants, said yesterday: “I’m ecstatic that he’s been found. I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone.”
Fellow breeder Mary Busby, 60, made an 80-mile round trip from Fareham, Hants.
She said the Beardie community is very close “so whenever something awful happens we all band together.
“It’s fabulous that Arran has been reunited with Madeleine. It was a wonderful moment.”
found that in 15 files police had “missed the opportunity to explore reasonable lines of inquiry” before wrapping up the case.
Inspectors also examined 200 magistrates courts domestic abuse files finalised between June and November 2018, which were a mixture of successful and unsuccessful outcomes, plus 40 cases where no further action
was advised. In 42 per cent of all those cases, the examiners found there had been no thought of how to take a case forward without the victim’s participation if the prosecutor authorised charging.
Joint publishers, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, called for investigations to be improved. Kevin McGinty, HM Inspector for the CPS, said: “Domestic abuse can have a devastating impact on victims’ lives.
“It is important police and CPS are proactive in their approach to dealing with this type of offending.”
Wendy Williams, of the fire and police inspectorate, added: “Both the police service and CPS are moving in the right direction.
“But much more can be done to ensure an evidence-led approach is considered a focus and priority, and it should be considered for all cases at an early stage.
“Officers should prioritise effective evidence gathering and prosecutors should highlight it, by working on the assumption that the victim may withdraw support, in order for the prospects of success to improve.”
The report also revealed that neither police nor the CPS had a system for measuring performance in evidence-led cases.