BRUISING FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
AN EARLY-EVENING phone call changed the life of Diane Timms. Her son Lawrence Vincent’s girlfriend rang her in a panic to explain the 27-yearold had been set upon by a teenage gang, beaten, kicked and robbed and had crawled home bleeding heavily. Seventeen months on from that dreadful day, her life has become consumed by a quest to bring his attackers to justice – driven in part by the belief that missed opportunities in the police investigation have allowed them to go free.
“I have lost a year of my life,” she tells in a hotel just a couple of miles from where the attack happened on a field in the Doncaster suburb of Balby on January 28, 2017. “It is like a nightmare I can’t get out of.”
Through her own determination, South Yorkshire Police has been forced to make multiple admissions relating to the way about the investigation was conducted, which she says lend weight to her concerns. A detective inspector overseeing her complaint about the handling of the case has confirmed police did not forensically test a footprint impression on clothing Mr Vincent was wearing when attacked and did not seize the mobile phones of any of the suspects. A brick used in the attack was also not collected by police despite being left at the scene, while officers did not interview 13 people for almost a year despite them being named as linked to the suspects and potentially having information about the incident.
Diane says the situation has had a severe effect on her son both mentally and physically, leading her to trying to establish what was happening in the investigation. Lawrence, who used to work for a charity furniture delivery firm but gave up work because of severe back pain, had gone to his local shop to buy sweets for his son and was walking home when he was set upon by a group of youths wearing hoods, who dragged him into a nearby field.
He was repeatedly beaten, kicked and stamped on before being hit with a brick and then robbed of a gold bracelet worth £1,000 as well as a gold chain. Diane says she was greeted with a shocking scene when she got to Lawrence’s house minutes after hearing of the attack, finding her son bleeding heavily and in a confused state. “There wasn’t a place on his body they hadn’t kicked. It was really distressing, he is my only son. He kept saying ‘Mum I haven’t done anything’.”
Lawrence was taken to hospital as paramedics feared he may have a fractured skull and a suspected stab wound and he required a CT scan and stitches. The day after the incident, Diane posted an appeal on Facebook including a photograph of Lawrence’s bloodied face, asking for people who may have information to come forward. She says she was soon inundated with messages giving “the same five to six names”.
However, Diane quickly grew concerned about the apparent lack of progress in bringing a case against suspects who had been identified online and were well-known in the local community. In September, she submitted a complaint about how the case was being handled by a police constable, a superintendent and a detective sergeant involved – a matter which is still being assessed by the force’s Professional Standards Department.
In October, the Crown Prosecution Service ruled no charges could be brought after reviewing the evidence provided by the police. The force said at the time that while a “lengthy investigation” had taken place with six teenage boys interviewed, it respected the CPS’s decision.
Supported by a local neighbourhood watch group volunteer who wishes to remain anonymous, Diane submitted a list of 23 questions she wanted answering about the investigation as part of the complaints process.
But before the police eventually provided answers to the questions in late November, she was asked to sign an ‘action plan’ for dealing with her complaint that would have involved agreeing ‘no formal disciplinary action will be taken against the persons subject of the complaint in relation to these matters’. She refused to sign the document and the responses she eventually received further increased her concerns about how the investigation had been dealt with.
Following the attack, the police took Lawrence’s clothing as evidence. When they were handed back to the family ten months later, there was a footprint impression on the hoodie he had been wearing when he was attacked.
The police response to Diane confirmed no forensic tests had been conducted on the footwear impression on the grounds that such analysis was ‘not relevant’. Despite six teenagers being interviewed as part of the investigation, only one pair of trainers was recovered from a suspect. The photographed mark was subsequently compared with the set of trainers the police did have and found not to be a match.
Police also confirmed no phones had been taken from the suspects. A subsequent response added while searches had been conducted of the addresses of suspects, the ‘primary aim’ had been to find Lawrence’s stolen jewellery rather than any mobile devices. But Diane believes these phones may have provided evidence that could have linked the suspects to the crime, particularly as a picture of two people with their faces covered and captioned with the message ‘No face, no case’ was posted on social media a few days after the attack.
Police also confirmed the officer in charge of the case had not spoken to all 13 people who had been named as being linked to the suspects and as having possible knowledge of the assault. In the wake of Diane’s concerns, some elements of the case were subsequently re-examined late last year and early this year, including speaking to this group of people. A further email in January 2018 confirmed 12 of the 13 named people had now been spoken to – but revealed the work had been undertaken by the original PC in charge of the case who Diane had complained about in September.
On March 29, the force confirmed it had determined “there is insufficient evidence to secure a charge and conviction against any persons suspected of robbing Lawrence”.
Diane says she still has many unanswered questions, with the force even refusing to tell her how many people were ever arrested.
When asked by whether it disputed any of the issues raised by Diane and if it considered its investigation of the matter to be satisfactory, a force spokeswoman said: “This matter is subject to an ongoing complaints process and therefore it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage. The robbery allegation was subject to further investigation and the matter is currently being finalised.”
Diane says of the force’s response: “All I ever wanted was justice for my son. I have got no trust left in the police at all. I just feel sad.”