999 Call 'Badly Mishandled'

29 February 2012, 10:16 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A 999 call, made by the daughter of a family of four while they were being murdered was “badly mishandled” according to a Police Watchdog.

Manchester Met University lecturer Jifeng Ding, his wife Helen, and their two daughters 12 year old Alice, and 18-year-old Xing were found stabbed to death in their home in Pioneer Close in Wootton, Northampton, on Sunday, May 1.

It is believed Xing made the 999 call on her mobile at about the time the family is thought to have been killed on Friday, April 29.

Publishing its findings following an investigation into the way Northamptonshire Police handled the call, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said a number of errors were made by the force in dealing with the call.

Amerdeep Somal, IPCC commissioner, said: “Our findings have to be viewed against a high volume of emergency calls the police deal with, but our investigation has found this particular 999 call was badly mishandled.

“An incorrect location as to where the call originated from led to potentially crucial minutes of police time being wasted. And the recording of a specific, wrong address on the incident log misled officers into believing that all was apparently well when the reality was the extreme opposite.

“Force procedure dictates that screaming on an abandoned 999 call should elicit an immediate police response.

“Had police used more detailed checks and a mapping system available to them, the need for a subscriber check would have been established, the correct address in Pioneer Close would have been identified and in all likelihood attended by officers within minutes.”

52 year old Businessman Anxiang Du, who has not been seen since the day of the murders, is wanted by police in connection with the deaths.