A grieving mum has accused the Metropolitan Police of misogyny over claims two officers decided not to check on her vulnerable daughter before she was found dead in a park.
Cas Shotter Weetman says sheer incompetence fails to explain why two male officers reportedly failed to check on 37-year-old Natalie Shotter after she was seen alone late at night in Southall Park, west London.
A passer-by concerned about her welfare is said to have warned the officers, who were attending to another matter nearby, at around midnight on July 17 last year.
But he was told to call 101 and the officers did not visit her before she was found unresponsive the following morning, according to an internal report seen by Channel 4.
Natalie, who left behind a 21-month-old daughter and two sons aged 15 and 14, was pronounced dead at 6:07am.
The park, which overlooks a busy road in the borough of Ealing, can be walked across in about five minutes.
A man has been arrested in connection with the incident but the officers were not dismissed despite an apparently damning review of their conduct.
The internal investigation found they ‘failed to take appropriate action’ but would not even face misconduct proceedings, Channel 4 reported.
One officers was said to have told investigators he had not been informed, while both were repotedly ‘very sorry’ and felt they had ‘let the police down’.
Natalie’s mum told the broadcaster: ‘I’m appalled at their lack of caring duty to my daughter.
‘They made a judgement about a lone female in a park late at night who would possibly be drinking – their judgement was she was possibly the wrong victim.
‘When I saw in their statements that they referred to the fact that they let the Met down, that really got me.
‘Because I felt they were more concerned about letting the Met down than actually letting the family down and letting Nat down.’
As well as appealing to the police watchdog, Dr Shotter Weetman has written to the Met’s new chief, Sir Mark Rowley, demanding an investigation into how the force handled the matter and why it decided not to open a misconduct case.
In a separate statement, she added: ‘The police had a real opportunity to save her but failed in their duty. The cost of their failure was my daughter’s life.’
Campaigners helping the family claim the investigator who looked into the case recommended that the officers should face misconduct proceedings.
A senior male officer instead decided they should be reprimanded for ‘unsatisfactory performance’, according to the End Violence Against Women Campaign (EVAW).
Natalie’s close friend, the writer and poet Miss Yankey, said: ‘When failing to do your job properly results in a woman’s death, minimising the consequences is not only an insult to the life lost, but a reflection of how little regard the Met Police have for women’s lives.
‘Nat’s death, like that of countless women failed by the police, was avoidable. The officers in question made a decision not to check on the safety and wellbeing of a woman who they knew was at risk.
‘They decided that Nat wasn’t worthy of their care and attention and left her to die. This was not an “unsatisfactory performance” and to call it that is beyond disgraceful.’
The accusations come in the wake of a withering interim report by Baroness Casey found hundreds of Met officers have been let off for breaking the law or committing misconduct.
The independent review, ordered after the murder of Sarah Everard, said Scotland Yard was ‘too weak’ in responding to cases of sex offences, racism and misogyny among its ranks.
She highlighted the case of one officer who was accused of 11 misconduct offences including sharing explicit images of himself, sexual harassment, fraud and assault.
According to the report, he is still working for the force despite the allegations leading to two formal sanctions and his arrest on one occasion.
Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said of Natalie’s case: ‘At the heart of this is a failure to protect a vulnerable woman.
‘We are told that tackling violence against women and girls is a priority but we have yet to see actions taken by the criminal justice system result in meaningful change for victims and their families.
‘More than 600 officers are being investigated by the Met for misconduct and criminality. This is a shocking rap sheet. But investigations into cases of police misconduct and police perpetrated abuse are nowhere near good enough and too often allow officers to evade accountability.’
Sir Mark accepted that the findings showed hundreds of officers should have been sacked.
He apologised to both the public and to ‘honest and dedicated officers’ within the force, saying both have been let down.
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