Liverpool woman's suicide threat misheard by operator

A woman was found hanging in a phone box after her suicide threat was "missed" by a police operator.

Jennifer Morrow, 36, of Liverpool, dialled 999 after a drunken, violent row with her sister and said she was going to "top herself".

But the call handler's failure to hear her had "devastating consequences", the police watchdog said.

Merseyside Police said it had taken action to change training to ensure such an incident was not repeated.

Ms Morrow and her sister, Carol Morrow, both ended up locked out of the flat they shared after an alcohol-fuelled row in the early hours of Sunday 25 January.

Both rang 999, Ms Morrow to report she was locked out of the flat wearing only a dressing gown and her sister to report she had been assaulted.

Call downgraded

About an hour later, Ms Morrow rang 999 again and made the suicide threat, but the comment was missed by the operator.

Ms Morrow's sister was spoken to by an officer over the telephone at 0342 GMT and the incident was downgraded.

No officers were available to be dispatched until two hours later, but were diverted to an emergency.

Ms Morrow was found hanged in the telephone kiosk by members of the public at about 0700 GMT.

It is our job to protect and help vulnerable members of the public and we are sorry that we failed to do that for Jennifer Ch Supt Dave Lewis Merseyside police

An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation concluded that both Ms Morrow and her sister had received an inadequate level of service.

The force has been told to review its call handling operation, "including training, staff welfare and quality assurance".

A sergeant and two members of police staff were made subject to "action plans to help them learn from the errors that were made".

IPCC Commissioner Naseem Malik said Ms Morrow was not given the help and support she needed.

'Genuine mistake'

"Information was missed which should have meant the call was not downgraded. In particular Ms Morrow's threat to kill herself was missed," she said.

"I am content the investigation has shown this was a genuine mistake - but it was a mistake with devastating consequences."

Merseyside Police has reassessed training given to call handlers following the investigation.

Ch Supt Dave Lewis, head of the call handling department, said: "It is our job to protect and help vulnerable members of the public and we are sorry that we failed to do that for Jennifer.

"However, people can be confident that we are working hard to ensure that something like this does not happen again."