Police ‘regret blunders’ over dying man

Oct 4 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

Thomas Lunt - died after his birthday night out (158)

POLICE yesterday said they deeply regretted a series of blunders which meant officers missed the chance to save a man’s life.

Thomas Lunt died from a severed artery after gashing his arm on a broken window after celebrating his 18th birthday in Widnes.

He left a 200-yard trail of blood before collapsing behind a nursing home.

Two calls were made to police more than three hours before his body was found in Warrington Road, Widnes. During one of the calls, the operator misinterpreted the information which resulted in officers searching the wrong place.

The call was later assumed to have been a hoax.

Yesterday, Mike Franklin, Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) commissioner for the North West, said collective errors meant the chance of saving the young man’s life, no matter how remote, may have been missed.

"Unfortunately the injury he sustained meant he could not have survived for very long without rapid medical intervention," he said.

He said: "We will never know whether there was that slim chance that if officers had found him he might have lived. With hindsight, it is fair to say that emergency calls were made which, if linked together at the time, could have painted a picture of a person in trouble having sustained an injury."

As a result of the judgment, three police officers and two call handlers will be given advice on dealing with emergency calls.

The IPCC report recommended the force introduce new measures and training procedures to deal with information from calls.

An inquest returned an accidental death verdict.

In a statement, Cheshire police said they had "learnt lessons from a very tragic and unique set of circumstances".

It continued: "Cheshire Constabulary deeply regrets the death of Thomas Lunt on 17 February 2007 and our thoughts and sympathies remain with his family. "The knowledge that the response could have been different, and that a young man died, remains, and is deeply regretted, by the constabulary."

The spokesman said alcohol had increased Mr Lunt’s vulnerability and impaired his ability to seek help.