Officer 'failed' over fall death

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A senior police officer failed to act properly before a suicidal woman fell to her death from a block of flats, a report from the police watchdog says.

Rachel Nadin, 36, was drinking on the windowsill of her sixth-floor flat in Manchester, threatening to jump.

As officers tried to speak to her, she fell from the window and died.

An inspector who cancelled patrols an hour earlier after a previous threat "failed in his duty", the Independent Police Complaints Commission found.

Officers had prevented Ms Nadin from jumping from the flats eight days earlier and the day before her death when she had slashed her wrists.

The fact that he spent a total of six minutes and 16 seconds with a vulnerable woman who was threatening suicide is not acceptable Naseem MalikIPCC Commissioner

On 2 September 2005, she called police threatening to throw herself from the 12th floor.

An inspector attended and persuaded Ms Nadin, an alcoholic, to leave the 12th floor balcony and return to her flat.

He then told the control room that Ms Nadin was back in her flat and the other patrols should be cancelled, before leaving.

But an hour later she was on her balcony threatening to jump.

While one officer was attempting to speak to Ms Nadin, she fell from the window.

The independent commission (IPCC) found the officers who attended when Ms Nadin fell had acted properly and could not have prevented her death.

But it found the inspector "clearly failed in the performance of his duties in not carrying out basic checks which would have helped him assess the situation fully".

His conduct, however, did not cause Ms Nadin's death, the report says, and recognised he had worked a 17-hour shift.

Accidental death

The report recommended that the officer receives a superintendent's warning.

Naseem Malik, IPCC Commissioner for the North West, said: "The investigation was very thorough and determined that Greater Manchester Police had acted effectively and compassionately in most of its dealings with Ms Nadin during this difficult period.

"However it is clear that one officer, whether due to inexperience, lack of training or the fact he had worked long hours, failed to assess the situation fully.

"The fact that he spent a total of six minutes and 16 seconds with a vulnerable woman who was threatening suicide is not acceptable."

An inquest into Ms Nadin's death returned a verdict of accidental death contributed to by neglect.