Former officer to face hearing over Jacob Crawshaw death

Jacob Crawshaw, who was 19 at the time of his death, was a passenger in a works van that crashed on the A14 in Northamptonshire in October 2021.

10 minutes before Jacob died, he sent a Snapchat message to his friend to say that his driver, Christopher Hicks, was "stoned". However, Mr Hicks was not drug tested at the scene of the crash, nor at the hospital in the hours after the incident. Instead, he was drug tested a day later, by which point it was "too late" to determine whether he was on drugs at the time of the fatal crash.

The drugs test the following day came back positive. Mr Hicks, from Eynesbury, was sent to prison for 30 weeks and banned from driving for three years and 15 weeks after he pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving. Jacob Crawshaw's parents, James and Tracey, have campaigned for justice since his death and previously complained to Northamptonshire Police for what they said was "a lack of testing and poor investigative work".

Tracey and James Crawshaw, Jacob's parents.(Image: Crawshaw Family) The family received an apology from the police force but escalated their concerns to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who began a review into the case. The review into the handling of the case is now complete.

A spokesperson for the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said that the Crawshaw family's complaints "covered a range of concerns", including the "level of contact and communication between police and the family", as well as "the role of the family liaison officer being combined with that of the investigating officer". Another complaint was that not all "reasonable lines of enquiry" were pursued. Jacob Crawshaw.(Image: Crawshaw Family)

Northamptonshire Police's complaints investigation determined that the service provided by the force was "unacceptable" in these areas, and that one of the officers involved in the case had a case to answer for misconduct, and that some of the behaviour may amount to gross misconduct. However, Northamptonshire Police decided that they would not bring proceedings forward, in part, because the officer is now retired. A spokesperson for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said that "the Police Conduct Regulations do allow for a misconduct hearing to take place where a former officer has a case to answer for gross misconduct".

The Independent Office for Police Conduct have also recommended that Northamptonshire Police review a timeline they produced which covered the crash. The Crawshaw family.(Image: Crawshaw Family) The force have been recommended to send a new copy to the Crawshaw family, which includes "omissions from the timeline, and the necessary adjustments made to spelling errors in the document".

A spokesperson for the watchdog said: "The actions of the subject officer's superiors have not yet been reasonably or proportionately considered and that had there been more robust oversight, issues might have been identified earlier, potentially preventing some of the subsequent mistakes in the collision investigation. "We have directed that these matters, which are also relevant to the conduct and behaviour of the subject officer, be investigated. "Following that investigation, Northamptonshire Police are required to consider once again whether any officer, including the subject officer, has a case to answer and whether disciplinary proceedings should be brought."

A Northamptonshire Police spokesperson said that the force has "acknowledged the findings of the Independent Office for Police Conduct" and that they continue to engage with the family of Jacob Crawshaw. "As this remains a live investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time." Have you got a story you want to share with us?

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References

1. ^ [email protected] (www.huntspost.co.uk)
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