PSNI accepts failings in road death investigation
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has apologised after serious failings were found in its investigation into a fatal car crash.
Teenagers Debbie Whyte and Nathan Gault died after being hit by a vehicle in County Fermanagh in 2008.
Coroner Suzanne Anderson criticised the force for a six-hour delay in seizing the driver’s phone, as two calls appeared to have been deleted after the collision.
Officers also did not secure the network provider’s connection records, and confused their questioning of the data as they got the time of the crash wrong by half an hour.
The PSNI has promised to reflect on the verdict and determine if further improvements can be made to its investigative policies.
Debbie and Nathan were exiting a school bus when they were struck by a Renault Megane driven by Yvonne Seaman.
Two calls were made from Ms Seaman’s phone just before the crash, but were deleted in the aftermath.
Ms Seaman denied using her phone while driving or deleting the call records.
Ms Anderson referred the case to the Public Prosecution Service as she believes an offence may have been committed in regards to the deletion.
She also found the PSNI did not request the network provider offer the phone data, which would have shown the deleted information.
The PSNI has since asked all police constables to switch off mobile phones seized in serious traffic collisions.
Chief Superintendent David Moore said: “Our thoughts are with the families today and I know this must be very distressing for them.
“We accept that there were clear failings in this investigation. It will be of no comfort to the families but improvements have since been introduced and we now have a dedicated specialist team to investigate fatal RTCs who support district officers.
“Police investigative capabilities in examining phones and phone records has also greatly improved.”