Man was estimated to have died not before 29th December.
Police first made aware on 2nd Jan
Would a child last even 5 days without water? He was likely dead by then, sadly.
A two year old would be lucky to last 3 days in such circumstances and was likely already dead when the social worker first knocked on the 2nd.
Surely this one is the police’s fault? They were contacted repeatedly and did not check when CS couldn’t get in.
It's not at all clear that this is the Police fault. As other have pointed out they can't just smash down doors every time social services don't get an answer at a door or on the phone.
Section 17 of PACE covers the scenarios in which police can force entry
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/17
In gives police the, legal, power to enter and search premises without a warrant (and to force entry if required) in order to arrest persons or to save life, limb or property.
Police officers don't possess some magical powers to see through walls. If social services have attended an address and don't get an answer then the police have to consider the circumstances and judge as to whether to deploy or not.
Because what's the point in sending police officers just to knock on, look through the windows and letterbox and knock on at the neighbours to see if they know anything when social services are already at the address and can do all that themselves (legally).
If you are sending police to an address its on a fairly strong assumption that they wont be leaving there until they have ascertained the whereabouts of the person(s) sought or they will be putting in the door in to check the address before they leave.
Now flip this around and consider it was in the few days after the festive period when people go away (sometime spontaneously) and stay with friends more than they might do otherwise in the year.
A lot of people would be quite annoyed if the police smashed there front door because they missed an appointment and were out of contact for a bit.
Pretty sure there are other times as well.
They broke into a blokes house on my parents street when he went on holiday and turned half the streets water off.
They broke the door down so united utilities could turn the water back on.
As above S17 PACE covers damage to property so police can use this power to force entry to sort out a serious water or gas leak that could cause serious damage to the property concerned or neighbouring properties.
The exact wording is (for the purposes) "of saving life or limb or preventing
serious damage to property."
There would normally be quite obvious objective grounds for this like water coming through the ceiling of a flat or out of the doors of an address.
