Police refused to launch helicopter search which may have saved hanged man’s life because it was 20 minutes before the end of their shift
A police helicopter which could have saved a young man's life was not sent up because staff were due to go off duty, an inquest heard.
Officers, family and friends were desperately searching on the ground for 21-year-old Danny Cavill who had threatened to harm himself after a night out.
Mr Cavill was still alive when a request was put in to South Yorkshire Police for a helicopter to help find him but night-time air support staff declined as their shift was due to end 20 minutes later.
An official investigation discovered that because 'a life was at risk' the shift should have been extended by an hour and Danny, who hanged himself, could have been saved.
However, a little more information;
Chief Insp Butler outlined a series of mistakes by the force and said another helicopter could have been called in from neighbouring forces but the call was never made.
He said the incident should have been classed as an 'immediate priority' and the police call centre handler did not elicit enough information about Danny’s plight.
An expert search officer was not contacted and cell-site analysis was not deployed which could have pinpointed Danny’s position within 200 metres and narrowed down the search parameters.
Mr Butler also said the police sergeant in charge of the search was working on a 'flawed assessment' passed to him second-hand from the family.
The Rotherham hearing was told Danny, who was drunk, was ejected from the Liquid nightclub in Rotherham town centre about 2am on Saturday, May 7 last year.
He phoned his best friend Josh Hill, 21, in a distressed manner and told him: 'Nobody likes me, I can’t get in contact with anyone. I’m going to do something stupid and I’m walking by the rail track now.'
After Mr Hill raised the alarm police were called in and searchers initially went to a railway bridge where Danny had previously been found when drunk before the search switched to the golf club.
Sgt Kevin Bradley, who was later reprimanded, said the family did not believe Danny would carry out the threat to harm himself and he only rated the incident as 'medium risk' so did not call out the consortium helicopter after the South Yorkshire chopper failed to get airborne.
Danny’s father Stephen said: 'He liked going out on Friday nights with his mates. He used to like a drink and fell asleep in different places. That is what we thought had happened that night.'
Coroner comments;
'The question of the helicopter was not properly pursued when it should have been. It was available to be deployed had the proper questions been posed.'
Could it be that the shift had ended before the right questions were asked, let alone answered?
Anyway, isn't Rotherham within 20 minutes of air support 24/7?
Or is Rotherham the 3% not covered
