Victim’s Brother Labels Police Murder Review as ‘Empty Words’

The brother of a man murdered by his girlfriend’s ex-partner has stated that the conclusions from an internal police review into how the case was handled “may as well be empty words”. Steven Harnett and Katie Higton lost their lives after being stabbed to death by Ms Higton’s ex-partner, Marcus Osborne, at her residence in Huddersfield in May 2023. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced it had examined the findings of an internal investigation by West Yorkshire Police concerning the force’s contact with Ms Higton. The IOPC found no “conduct matters” or criminal offences, but did identify “areas of possible improvement”. Jordan, Mr Harnett’s brother, commented: “I hope when a woman approaches the police concerned for her life, measures are put in place to protect her. Sadly, I can’t see this being the case.” Just four days prior to their murders, Ms Higton had informed West Yorkshire Police of her fear that Osborne would “seriously hurt or kill” her. He was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence offences on 12 May and subsequently released on bail, with the condition that he not return to their home. Osborne monitored Ms Higton, aged 27, and attacked her within the home. Ms Higton sustained 99 injuries in the assault, and Mr Harnett, aged 25, was left with 24 knife wounds. Osborne received a whole-life prison sentence for their murders at Leeds Crown Court on 1 March. Sunny Bhalla, the IOPC’s head of national operations, stated that the organization recommended police make it easier for members of the public to report incidents and improve decision-making procedures around granting suspects bail in similar cases. He said: “In circumstances like these, where Katie had previously contacted police to make a domestic abuse report, it is important for the circumstances to be investigated and lessons learned where necessary.“While we did not identify any individual conduct matters, or potential criminal offences by anyone working for the police, our review did find areas of possible improvement.“It is our view that this should be considered alongside any other broader learning arising from this tragedy.” Jordan Harnett described the investigation’s results as “contradictory”. He stated: “They found ‘no wrongdoing’ but have ‘shared areas of potential learning’ – to me that is a contradictory statement.” Mr Harnett indicated his belief that the IOPC had issued similar statements regarding other cases on eight previous occasions before this one, and he expressed concern that further such statements would be necessary “in the near future”. “Nine women have been failed since 2019, a completely unacceptable number,” he asserted. The charity Refuge, which supports victims of domestic violence, commented that the investigation failed to “capture the urgency of this matter”. Ikram Dahman, interim director of fundraising, policy and communications, said: “The devastating deaths of Katie and Steven are part of a broader problem – the reoccurring failure of the police to take immediate action upon receiving reports of abuse and violence. “These police failings can and do have fatal consequences, and will continue to have such consequences until we see a drastic reform of this system.”He added that more should be done to ensure police forces “reassess their approach to dealing with reports of domestic abuse and violence”. “The police have a duty of care to protect the public, they must listen to and believe survivors of domestic abuse and do everything in their power to support them and keep them safe.”We cannot sit and watch whilst more lives are taken by male violence.” West Yorkshire Police indicated that it “fully accepted” the opportunities for improvement and learning identified by the IOPC. Assistant Chief Constable Damien Miller commented: “Work has been ongoing in the force for some time to implement this learning.“An independent domestic homicide review is ongoing and this will fully explore the background and wider circumstances of this case.”” Alison Lowe, West Yorkshire’s deputy mayor for policing and crime, stated that the force was struggling to cope with demand. She explained: “There are 53,000 domestic abuse cases recorded each year and 6,500 police officers.” “We will always hold the police to account, to be better, to meet the needs of all the citizens of West Yorkshire, but it is inevitable that there will always be those cases in extremis where there are lessons to be learned and where we as a society lose loved ones.” Ms Lowe mentioned that several initiatives were being implemented to help “eliminate” violence against women, with one approach seeing 3,000 police officers trained in improving their response to domestic abuse reports. Correction 28 October: A previous iteration of this story suggested the investigation into the police’s handling of contact with Ms Higton prior to her murder was carried out by the IOPC. However, the investigation was in fact carried out by West Yorkshire Police and the force’s findings were subsequently reviewed by the IOPC. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.