Police misconduct hearing told officers failed to take "an investigative mindset" over a young boy’s death

Wednesday, 18 September 2019 10:43

A misconduct hearing has heard that three West Yorkshire police officers failed to take "an investigative mindset" over a young boy’s death.

3-year-old Riley Siswick was found dead at his home in Huddersfield on 6 February 2016, with Kyle Campbell eventually being convicted of murdering him. and Kayleigh Siswick -the boy’s mother - being found guilty of causing or allowing the death of her child.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Swift, Detective Inspector George Bardell and PC Oliver Scoones investigated the boy’s death, and it is alleged that they breached professional standards in the way they looked into the death.

The hearing heard that the death was investigated by district officers, as opposed to the homicide and major enquiries team.

Outlining the case against the officers, Ian Skelt addressed a panel at West Yorkshire police headquarters, saying: "Even at these early times, there were indications that the death may well have been suspicious.

"The officers appeared to have been focused, for whatever reason, on it being an innocent cause of death, rather than taking an investigative mindset and considering the possibility this may have been a traumatic assault."

The misconduct meeting is expected to run for a duration of two weeks.

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