Owami Davies: Police watchdog will take no action over officers’ handling of missing person case
The Metropolitan Police and Essex Police will review its investigations into Ms Davies’ disappearance following widespread concern over how the case was handled
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Your support makes all the difference.The Independent Office for Police Conduct will take no further action against Metropolitan Police officers who came into contact with Owami Davies and let her go after she had been reported missing.
The student nurse, 24, was found “safe and well” in Hampshire on Wednesday more than seven weeks after she went missing, following a tip-off from a member of the public.
Ms Davies was last seen walking north along London Road in Croydon on 7 July and concerns had been growing for her safety. Met Police officers found her asleep in a doorway in Clarendon Road, Croydon, on 6 July while she was waiting for a friend, but she told them that she did not need help and left.
The NHS worker’s family had reported her disappearance to Essex Police on 4 July, but she had not been marked as a missing person on the police database at that time.
Confirming it would not review the case, an IOPC spokesperson said: “On 5 August we received a mandatory death or serious injury (DSI) referral from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), in relation to contact MPS officers had with Owami Davies on 6 July after she was reported missing.
“The DSI referral was made after the force announced it had made arrests on suspicion of her murder.
“Given that Owami Davies has now been found safe and we have not received information from the force that Ms Davies has suffered any serious injuries, the referral not does not meet the criteria for a DSI referral. We have advised the Met that it is invalid and therefore we will be taking no further action.”
Met Police commander Paul Brogden said: “While this matter does not meet the criteria for an investigation by the IOPC and this matter is not subject to any enquiry by our Directorate of Professional Standards, we know there have been concerns raised around the search for Owami.
“Therefore we, alongside our colleagues in Essex Police, will be carrying out a review of all our actions from when Owami was first reported missing.
“We will carry out the review in an open and transparent manner to ensure we have acted correctly and to identify any ways to improve our response to finding other missing people.”
Despite the arrests of five people and numerous appeals for information, officers were struggling to locate Ms Davies as they trawled through 117 reported sightings of her.
The five people arrested remain on bail, but police are expected to review those conditions after concluding Ms Davies had come to no harm.
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