‘Confusion’ over location during incident where pedestrian, 22, died on A45 between Northampton and Wellingborough, police watchdog finds

A report into police response during an incident where a pedestrian died on the A45 in Northamptonshire has found there was “confusion” around the location.

In the early hours of October 23, 2021 a 22-year-old man was in collision with a white BMW X5 on the A45 near Earls Barton. The man died at the scene.

Following the incident, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated Northamptonshire Police as earlier that evening - around 11.40pm on October 22 - a member of the public called 999 to say someone was walking against traffic on the dual carriageway.

The IOPC investigation found that two officers attended the scene and searched both sides of the carriageway. However, the report found that the officers searched an area 3.7 miles away from the initial sighting.

The incident was closed before the control room received another call at 12.30am to say a man was on the carriageway and a driver nearly hit him. The same two officers were assigned to the call before it was reported at 12.45am that the man had been hit by a car. Paramedics confirmed the man had died. An inquest later ruled his death as accidental.

In a report published on April 5, 2023, the IOPC said “there was no indication of any misconduct identified during the investigation” but it recognised that errors were made.

The IOPC said: “We recognised there were errors in relation to how the location of where the man was sighted was recorded on the incident log. This in turn, appeared to have led to confusion within the log, and the correct search area was not communicated to the response officers by the dispatcher.

“Furthermore, the evidence showed that response officers incorrectly identified one of the junctions resulting in a shortened search area.

“During the investigation it became evident that there was a level of anxiety and concern around receiving reports of this nature involving fast roads, and particularly inputting locations on the systems correctly.”

The IOPC also issued learning recommendations to Northamptonshire Police following the incident.

The statement added: “We recommended that Northamptonshire Police review the appropriateness of the pre-determined list of locations for the A45 in their internal system.”

The watchdog also recommended that the force “revise its Force Control Room (FCR) training to include content on responding to incidents on major roads”.

In response, the force says it has reviewed this training.

A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that we have addressed the recommendations made by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in connection to this case.

“This included our Force Control Room reviewing its training in regards to responding to incidents on major roads, and also working with our Digital and Technology Department to improve the method in which junction numbers and locations on major roads appear on our internal systems.

“We will continue to work with the IOPC to improve our processes and to implement any recommendations that improve the quality of our services and therefore the public’s confidence in policing.”

The county force has also been referred to the police watchdog over an incident on March 1, 2023 whereby two men died in a fatal collision on the A45 near Raunds.