Force guilty of rape case failings
West Mercia Police was guilty of "a number of failings" in investigating a rape claim by a man who was later killed by the person he accused, a watchdog ruled today.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission found officers did not take the allegations by Tenbury Wells man Adrian Palmer seriously enough and left the investigation in the hands of a junior constable.
Mr Palmer, 21, made the claim to police in January 2006.
He followed this up with complaints that he was receiving threatening messages on his mobile phone.
Mr Palmer, who suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, was found dead in a car park in Tenbury Wells on May 20.
The man he had accused over the rape, Ben Murphy, was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for four years.
The IPCC found the "relatively junior" constable handling the allegation was given minimal supervision, the force failed to examine Mr Palmer and also failed to seize his phone, meaning the identity of a caller who left threatening messages was never discovered.
Some incidents reported in person at Tenbury Wells police station had not even been recorded by staff.
The IPCC said that it could not say that Mr Palmer would not have been killed even if the mistakes by the force had not been made.
West Mercia Police said all the recommendations made by the IPCC had been "accepted and implemented".
