Today, a family from Manchester, have won a crucial legal round in their fight to sue Greater Manchester Police for damages, following a desperate 999 phone call which resulted in Georgina Beevers being found dead at her home.

It is believed that Georgina Beevers’ Mother, Sheila, made the 999 call to the Police at 18:44 hours informing the call handlers that her daughter’s partner had been battling with her to stop her taking an overdose.

The Court has heard that during this phone call, Ms Beevers’ Mother was given specific assurances that officers would respond forthwith and that if a hospital admission was required this would be arranged.

The call was registered as a ‘Grade One’ emergency, but 5 minutes later it was registered as ‘Grade Two.’

Ms Beevers’ Mother relied upon the instructions from the call handler, and deterred from calling an ambulance herself.

Unfortunately an officer was not dispatched for almost four hours, and on attending Ms Beevers home address at 22:19 hours and receiving no answer to the house that was in darkness, they left.

The following day at 08:17 hours, 13 hours after the initial phone call, two officers attended the home address to find Ms Beevers dead on her sofa.

Following the death of Ms Beevers, her family claimed that her death has been caused by the negligent down-grading of the emergency call.

In October 2016, Judge David Barkley QC ruled that Greater Manchester Police had ‘assumed responsibility’ for Ms Beevers when her Mother made the first call at 18:44 hours.

Following this ruling in October 2016, Greater Manchester Police have tried to appeal this decision, however Mr Justice King has stated that the Police has rightly been found to owe Ms Beevers a ‘duty of care.’

Mr Justice King has also rejected the Greater Manchester Police’s argument that they were under no duty to protect Ms Beevers from her own actions.

In addition to the above, Mr Justice King has said:

“The actions and words of the call handler were sufficient to affix the force with responsibility for Ms Beevers’ safety, notwithstanding the threat from herself.”

Following this conclusion, Ms Beevers’ partner and two sons, have been informed that they could be entitled to pursue compensation claims as a result of the failings of Greater Manchester Police.

Here at Farleys we have a specialist team of Lawyers who can advise and assist you on claims arising from the failings of the Police and we regularly successfully pursue claims against Local Authorities, the Police and Prison Service.

If you have recently lost a loved one and have been informed that an Inquest will be called, our Inquests department are available to offer you the advice and support you needs.

Our Solicitors will do everything within our power to assist you at this extremely difficult time and to ensure the inquest delivers the answers you require, which may go some way to assisting you in dealing with your grief.

Call the team today on 0845 287 0939 or submit your enquiry online.