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Abbygail Lawton, a 21-year-old citizen from Wigan, has accused two Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers of “chilling” at her home after she went missing in the woods. As per the report in Daily Mail, Ms. Lawton was going through a mental crisis and went missing from her home, after which an ambulance service called the police for backup, concerned about her welfare.
Responding to the call, two male and one female officers from Greater Manchester Police were sent to her home to search for her. After confirming that Lawton was not at home, the female officer exited, leaving her colleagues behind to wait in case she returned. Meanwhile, police started a helicopter search to find the whereabouts of Lawton.
Daily Mail further stated that the officers made themselves comfortable inside Abbygail's home as they sat on her sofa with their feet up and watched Netflix on her TV. One of the officers even used Lawton's dumbbells. The entire scenario was captured on Lawton’s CCTV camera,
Later, when Lawton was found in the woods, she was taken into police custody for 12 hours. Upon returning home, Abbygail Lawton watched the CCTV footage and raised a complaint about the officers’ conduct to the GMP’s Professional Standards.
Abbygail Lawton was taken into custody instead of being taken to hospital
According to the Daily Mail report, Abbygail Lawton had been missing from her home for 11 hours before she was found in a helicopter search by two Greater Manchester Police officers.
Explaining about her disappearance, Ms. Lawton shared:
“I was in the woods really struggling, I had overdosed before I left and was in a really bad mental health crisis.”
When Ms. Lawton was found around 4 AM, she was asked to get into a police car, and when she refused, a male officer allegedly shoved her into the back. Speaking about it to Daily Mail, Abbygail shared:
“I was crying my eyes out as I was really distressed and he said to me, ‘I’ve got no sympathy for you crying, you’ve wasted my time by me looking for you for five hours’.”
Abbygail also stated to the news outlet that the sergeant had told her she would be taken to a hospital. To her dismay, she was taken into custody instead.
“I spent 12 hours in custody. During my interview, a female police officer asked, ‘how would you feel if there were no police officers available for emergencies because they were all out looking for you?'.”
She further added:
“At this point I hadn’t seen the footage of the officers sitting on my sofa but are clearly not that busy if they are looking for me sitting on the sofa watching TV.”
During her time in custody, a mental health nurse came to visit Abbygail and urged her to make a formal complaint, as she should have been taken to a hospital. Subsequently, Abbygail Lawton filed a complaint to the GMP’s Professional Standards regarding the officers' behavior.
In response, a spokesperson for GMP’s Professional Standards said that they were not going to discipline the trio, as per the Daily Mail’s report. They added that the officers needed to remain at her house for safeguarding reasons in case she returned.
The two officers have been told by the GMP that their behavior “did not breach the standards of professional behavior,” but they should reflect on their conduct. Moreover, Ms. Lawton has been told that she can appeal GMP's decision.
