Inquest hears 999 call centre ‘overwhelmed’

DEVON and Cornwall Police were “spinning too many plates” and had no resources to attend a man who later took his own life, an inquest has heard.

Officers did not visit the address for more than four hours after the initial 999 call regarding the young man’s welfare in 2019.

Daniel Tilley, 37, spiralled into depression after a relationship breakdown and being denied access to a child he previously raised as his own. He was found dead by officers at his Newquay home on July 7, 2019.

A four-day jury inquest was being held this week in Truro to establish how he died and the circumstances leading to his death. 999 call handlers gave evidence of an understaffed police force and concerns that someone would die as a result. It was also heard that the initial 999 call should have been given a higher grading, indicating the need for an immediate police response.

Mr Tilley moved to Newquay for a fresh start in 2015 and was known to various health services in Cornwall, having made previous attempts on his own life. He was found dead at his home hours after family had phoned police over his erratic and suicidal behaviour.

Nigel Penny was a call handler working in the Exeter-based control room on the day of Daniel’s death and took the 999-call made by the deceased’s friend, Ryan Beck. He recalled “a significant increase in work” in relation to the volume of calls coming in during his time in the role but especially during the summer months. He had an 11-minute call with Mr Beck during which Daniel was described as making threats to himself and others. At 2.39pm a transfer was sent to dispatch for a police response. Mr Penny had given the call a grading of ‘Prompt’ which meant there was “a degree of importance” and a police response time of 60 minutes was required. If graded higher an immediate police presence would have been required with a 20-minute response time.

The police log document described it as a “sad incident” as a result of “a culmination of a perfect storm of circumstances”. It detailed how demand at the time in the Exeter-based call centre was excessive for the number of staff working and that due to the volume and grading of calls staff “missed opportunities” to ask questions or flag the matter to street triage or a manager. It was also said staff were “doing their best while facing unprecedented demand” and were spinning “too many plates”.

Tracy Page, a resource officer with Devon and Cornwall Police, recalled how a major road traffic collision incident nearby was taking a number of resources with other unrelated incidents ongoing at the time. When she received the log from Mr Penny there were no available resources to send.

“It was like holding onto a speeding train,” she said, telling the inquest that for many years she has raised on “numerous occasions” concerns about the workload and lack of staff with various authorities. Mr Fulfit was Miss Page’s line manager that day and described it as “one of the busiest shifts [he’d] ever seen” saying the workload was overwhelming.

Melanie Simmonds, chief inspector of the Call Management and Communications Unit at the time, said there will always be subjectivity around grading but that she believes that an ‘immediate’ grading of the 999 call would have been more appropriate. She also said changes have been implemented within the control rooms to prevent a similar incident in the future. The inquest continues.