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IPPC say South Wales Police let down woman in hammer attack IPPC say South Wales Police let down woman in hammer attack
(35 minutes later)
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has said a woman who was attacked by her partner with a claw hammer was let down by a "consistent thread of low level performance" by South Wales Police officers. A woman attacked by her partner with a claw hammer was consistently "let down" by South Wales Police, despite her reporting him to them, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has said.
The force did not make Charmaine Lewis aware of the risks Christopher Veal, a registered sex offender, presented. The force did not realise Christopher Veal was a registered sex offender because they mis-spelt his name.
He broke in to attack her after she was taken home from a Cardiff station. Moments after police left Charmaine Lewis's home, Veal broke in and attacked her in front of her children.
One officer has a case to answer for misconduct, the investigation found. The IPCC said one officer had a case to answer for misconduct.
Another officer and three control room staff should be subject to management intervention for poor performance, said the IPCC. A further four staff were said to need managing over poor performance.
IPCC Commissioner Jan Williams said the force had "put this woman and her children at serious risk" and "did not give this case any urgency or priority".
The police watchdog's investigation found Ms Lewis was "let down by a consistent thread of low level performance by South Wales officers and other staff".
Violent attack
Ms Lewis had reported Veal to police over an assault allegation in August 2011 but police could not find him and failed to identify him as a sex offender.
She contacted police three days later and went to Fairwater police station saying she felt threatened by Veal but officers drove her home, where minutes later he broke in and violently attacked her with a claw hammer.
She suffered serious injuries, including broken ribs and lost teeth, and was sent to hospital following the attack.
IPCC commissioner Jan Williams said: "'We found that, following the initial assault, the police did not give this case any urgency or priority.
"No one took overall supervision and this failure to join the dots effectively put this woman and her children at serious risk.
"South Wales Police had the systems and intelligence in place to flag up the danger that this offender presented, but, at various stages, officers failed to access that information and to assess the risk properly."
She said the force had since made the policing of domestic violence a high priority.
The report found South Wales Police should have referred the matter to the IPCC at the time it happened.
They were only made aware when Ms Lewis' MP, Susan Elan Jones, complained on her behalf after she moved to live in north Wales.
South Wales Police's deputy chief constable, Matt Jukes, said in a previous statement: "It is clear that we did not provide the victim in this case and her children with the care and protection that she needed at a critical time and we are sincerely sorry for that."
South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Alun Michael said: "The events should not have happened as they did. The deputy chief constable made that absolutely clear.
"The thing is there have been failures in the past which is why the chief constable made tackling violence against women and girls such a high priority in the police and crime plan."