THE BODY which deals with police conduct has concluded there is no case to answer against the police following the murder of a Wath man.
Craig Preston, who was also known as Craig Nelson, of Montgomery Square, Wath-upon-Dearne, was found brutally killed near the Woodhead tunnels at Woodhead pass nearly two years ago.
An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which replaced the Independent Police Complaints Commission in January, was carried out amid concerns of misconduct by a constable and to look at decisions and actions by police in response to apparent threats made to Mr Preston in the days before his death on August 21 2016.
In May last year Shiraz Bashir, 42, and Leonie Mason, 24, both from Huddersfield, were convicted of the 34-year-old’s murder Bashir was jailed for 22 years and Mason for 19 years.
Three boys, two then aged 15 and one 16, were found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
The IOPC received a referral from South Yorkshire Police, in December 2016, after their criminal investigation identified apparent threats by both Mr Preston and Bashir to harm each other between August 6 and 15 2016.
The investigation was suspended in February last year due to the trial, resumed in June 2017, and was completed in December.
A spokesman for the IOPC said Bashir contacted the force on August 6, 7, 13 and 15 to report threats by Craig Preston; stating that he planned to take matters into his own hands if no action was taken.
He was twice advised by a PC and once by a detective sergeant not to contact Mr Preston.
The police attempted to arrest Mr Preston on August 8 but could not locate him, and he was eventually arrested on August 13, and was released without charge after an interview in which he said Bashir had assaulted him on August 6, an incident he had reported to the police, as well as receiving threats.
The PC who gave advice to Bashir provided a written statement which explained that they did not perceive Bashir’s comments as a threat but that he was frustrated at the speed of the police investigation.
This assessment was corroborated by the detective sergeant who had also spoken to Bashir and decided his threats to harm Mr Craig Preston were not sincere.
“Our investigator concluded that the police response was appropriate and there is insufficient evidence upon which a misconduct meeting could find that the PC’s actions and decisions in responding to the apparent threats towards Mr Preston’s life amounted to misconduct,” a spokesman said.
IOPC Regional Director Miranda Biddle said: “Our thoughts remain with Craig Preston’s family following his death.
“We have a very clear role in this case; to establish the facts that there was evidence to suggest threats were made by both men and to assess the police response.
“In this case we found the South Yorkshire Police’s actions, in general, were appropriate and the officers involved had no case to answer.”
