Page 6 of Dead Fall

‘He wasn’t listening,’ said Ashley, but she threw a look at her union rep.

‘Let’s take a look at the other actions you took, shall we?’ Flyte went on. ‘You reported the incident as “medium risk”, rather than “high risk”, which meant that if Katya called the police again it wouldn’t automatically receive a priority response.’

Ashley said nothing.

‘How many domestic violence cases have you attended, Ashley?’

‘Oh, hundreds,’ said Ashley with feeling. ‘There’s a lot of men out there who can’t control their temper.’

The ‘red mist’ explanation of domestic abuse – which Flyte knew had been proven to be inadequate and dangerous in countless studies. One woman was murdered every four days by their partner or ex-partner, and most of them had previously suffered – and often reported – clear-cut signs of abusive behaviour.

Flyte checked the notes again. ‘Katya told you that her husband stopped her going out with her friends, and had taken her car keys away.’

‘Yeah, but I made sure he gave the keys back to her. And gave him words of advice.’

‘“Words of advice”.’ Flyte let the phrase hang in the air for a long moment. ‘Did it not occur to you that this was a red flag? A classic sign of coercive and controlling behaviour? A pattern of control and abuse that often predicts an escalation to serious assault and even murder?’

‘I just thought he was .?.?. bossy.’ She shrugged. ‘I mean it’s a different culture, eastern Europe, isn’t it?’

Flyte just stared at her. ‘Have you read the College of Police DASH guidance on domestic abuse?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Not yet? It’s been out for four years!’ Flyte heard her mentor William clear his throat. Steady on, she told herself.

‘Are you aware of the Silent Solution, Ashley?’

‘Yeah.’ Ashley sat up straight – she knew the answer to this one. ‘It allows members of the public to make a silent call to police and press 55 to indicate they’re in danger.’

‘Yet you didn’t tell Katya about it? Even as a precaution?’

Ashley shook her head, clearly realising too late that her previous answer had been a mistake.

The Silent Solution had been created specifically for domestic abuse victims. Katya’s mobile phone had been found beside her on the kitchen floor. At some point during her husband’s two-hour assault she’d had the chance to call 999 and left the line open, apparently believing the urban myth that a silent call would automatically trigger a police visit.

Hearing no response from the caller, the police operator had hung up, assuming a misdial. Shortly afterwards Pawel had returned to where Katya lay and finished the job.

It had been another hour before Katya’s sister, unable to raise her, had let herself in the flat and found her battered and bloodied body. She had rushed upstairs to find Katya’s ten-month-old daughter in her cot who, thankfully, had escaped her father’s wrath.

*

‘You know what gets me is that they both knew there was a baby in that house but they couldn’t have cared less.’ Flyte was blowing off steam to her mentor William in a nearby coffee shop. ‘They even stopped off to pick up KFC on the way to the callout!’

‘It’s an upsetting case,’ said William, nodding in agreement. After taking a sip of tea he looked at her kindly. ‘It can’t be easy for you, jumping the fence, as it were,’ he said. ‘Having to treat people who were once fellow officers as suspects.’

She nodded, squeezing the lemon slice into her Earl Grey, but she was actually thinking how easy she was finding it to hold her former Met colleagues to account. Too often during her time as a detective she had buttoned her lip, and failed to challenge the attitudes she’d encountered: towards women, gays .?.?. anyone who wasn’t white, male and straight – The Other. It had been six months since her brief career as a murder detective had ended in circumstances that had demolished her remaining trust in the police force. When the opportunity to become an IOPC investigator had come up she hadn’t hesitated for long before applying for a ‘career break’ from the Met – serving police officers not being eligible to work for the IOPC. It had been a tough moment, handing back her warrant card after so long, but she’d had no doubts, feeling certain that the ‘break’ would become a divorce.

‘So,’ she said, ‘will Ashley Skinner be dismissed for the failures that let Katya die?’

‘We simply determine if there’s a case to answer,’ said William patiently. ‘As you know, after that it’s out of our hands and up to the panel who will hear her case and decide whether she should face dismissal or any disciplinary sanction.’

‘She’ll probably just get a slapped wrist and further training, right?’ – hearing the bitterness in her own voice.

He sent her a thoughtful look. ‘Listen, Phyllida, it’s entirely understandable that you have strong personal reasons for wanting the Met to clean up its act. We’re all working towards that. But personal feelings aside, we also have to consider the best way to produce a better police service.’ He leaned in and lowered his voice. ‘If all the Ashley Skinners were dismissed the Met would lose thousands of uniforms overnight. We’ve established that there was a culture from senior officers at her nick around not taking domestic abuse seriously, and she does have seven years of unblemished service.’

‘Yes, but .?.?.’

‘Sanctions against officers found guilty of misconduct are important, of course they are, but we must never forget the learning aspect of our work. Identifying and disseminating recommendations for improvements that can make a real difference on the ground.’

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