Police force hunting dead woman’s husband criticised by inspectors for handling of domestic abuse investigations
The number one suspect in the killing of Harshita Brella is still evading capture, as Northants Police refuses to answer questions
By Sarah Ward
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The latest inspection of Northamptonshire Police warned that its processes could lead to ‘missed opportunities’ to protect domestic abuse victims.
Northamptonshire Police is handling the most high profile man hunt in the country after 24-year old Harshita Brella’s body was found in a car boot in East London on Thursday. An international search involving officers from across the country is now trying to find her husband Pankaj Lamba, who Northants Police believe killed his wife in Corby and then transported her body before abandoning the vehicle almost 100 miles away.
The Delhi-born young woman had been living in the country since April, the BBC reported yesterday evening after speaking with her family. They said she had married her husband last year in an arranged marriage, but that he had become violent and attacked her in the street.
Her sister said she had last spoken to Harshita on November 10 and asked a friend to ‘file a report’ when she did not answer her phone.
Northants Police went to her home in Skegness Walk, Corby, on Wednesday, November 13 and discovered the body on Thursday, but it was not until Saturday afternoon, that they made the murder public and did not issue details of Lamba until that evening. They have not said which country they think he may have fled to, or when he departed England.
As first reported by the Northants Telegraph, Lamba had been the subject of a domestic violence protection order, which had been made in early September for a period of 28 days. Court records state that he had been ordered to not contact or harass his wife and also not to go near premises on Longcroft Road in Corby, where Harshita is thought to have worked. Her family said Harshita had been working at a Corby warehouse while her husband had reportedly studied in London.
Northants Police has reported itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct due to having had contact with Harshita before her death.
The IOPC said yesterday:
“We have received a mandatory referral from Northamptonshire Police following the death of Harshita Brella, earlier this month.
“This is due to the fact officers had prior contact with Ms Brella, between August and November this year.
“We will now assess the available information to determine what further action may be required by us.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected by Ms Brella’s death.”
Domestic abuse investigations
The PEEL report published in February this year, which looked at how the Northants force protected vulnerable people, was critical of how it had been dealing with domestic abuse. It also found that against national guidance the organisation had been using community resolution orders between abusers and their victims.
It said:
“Despite having force governance structures in place for vulnerability, these aren’t as effective as they could be for domestic abuse. Public protection teams are responsible for ‘very high risk’ domestic abuse (the force’s definition), while local policing teams manage all other risk levels. As a result, scrutiny of domestic abuse performance isn’t as consistent as it could be. During our inspection we identified that the force uses a lot of community resolutions compared to the rest of England and Wales. This included using them for intimate domestic abuse cases, which was outside national guidance. We presented the issue to the force, which has since addressed our concerns. But this helps to explain why the inappropriate use of community resolutions for some domestic abuse investigations went unnoticed by the force.”
In the area for improvement section it also said:
“The force should put reliable processes in place to monitor protective orders and make sure that breaches are prioritised to safeguard the victim Data shows that the force considers Domestic Violence Protection Notices (DVPNs) and seeks Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) at court for cases of domestic abuse. In our audit we found that investigators gave appropriate consideration to ancillary orders, such as DVPNs, DVPOs and Stalking Protection Orders, in 9 of 13 relevant cases. In the year ending 31 March 2023, Northamptonshire Police applied for 189 DVPOs at court. During that period, the force made DVPO applications for 1.7 percent of the domestic abuse related crimes it recorded. During reality testing, police officers and staff told us that responsibility for monitoring a perpetrator’s compliance with a protection order rests with the original officer, usually a response officer.
“Response officers told us that there is often little opportunity to monitor these orders due to dealing with other calls for service. Our reality testing indicated that the force relies too much on victims reporting breaches. It doesn’t give clear direction to officers to carry out proactive checks for enforcement opportunities. Failure to effectively monitor orders could lead to missed opportunities to protect vulnerable victims. This could lead to a decline in confidence in the police to safeguard victims. The force also told us that there is no central co-ordination for monitoring orders. This leads to inconsistencies in the level of service offered to victims. This lack of co-ordination and oversight may reduce the effectiveness of orders and may fail to prevent re-offending.”
And inspectors found that while it had effective governance of ‘volume crimes’ such as burglary and street robbery, this was not the case for domestic abuse investigations.
It said:
“The force would benefit from applying the same level of scrutiny to domestic abuse.”
At this stage there is no evidence to suggest the force did monitor Lamba’s DVPO incorrectly.
Yesterday we asked Northants police what changes had been made since the PEEL report to how the force handles the monitoring of DVPOs and await an answer.
The force is remaining tightlipped on the investigation into Harshita’s murder, and at a sham press conference on Sunday evening, chief inspector Paul Cash refused to answer any questions. This appears to be the new media model for the force, as this was the same situation when Northampton teenager Rohan Shand was killed in Kingsthorpe and when university of Northampton student Kwabena Osei-Poku was murdered, with regional media asked to assemble to hear from an investigating officer, but not permitted to ask questions.
NN Journal asked a number of questions via email yesterday, including whether a plan had been put in place by police and other agencies to protect Brella.
The force’s head of media Richard Edmondson replied:
“Northamptonshire Police provided a full statement to the media late on Sunday afternoon and will, of course, continue to update on the investigation. Media outlets who have approached the Force for follow-up questions outside the media briefing have been clearly advised that we are not adding anything else to what was put out in the statement last night [Sunday]. We will continue to update the media when it is operationally appropriate.”
I think in the coming weeks and months, a spotlight will be shone on the inner workings of PVP and the people that run it. I imagine they are kicking themselves for sending 8 officers to try to arrest Maria Botterill-Barnes at EXACTLY the same time that this DVPO was in place as the whole "limited resources" excuse will not wash with the public.
Choices were made to intimidate one victim of domestic abuse, a choice which I think was a huge catalyst for another victim paying in the most horrific way possible.
Stupidity and ineptitude is one thing, but when a department is wilfully run against the interest and safety of victims it becomes pointless and the spend of the person running it becomes utterly untenable.
This woman could have been your sister, cousin, friend, neighbour and was failed by an organisation already mired in scandal doing nothing to try to resolve issues. We deserve much much better!
Unfortunately this kind of events has happened before in Northamptonshire. Does anyone recalled when a family in Wootton were murdered. The Police made several visits to the property, but never looked in the window of the property. A neighbour did that, and reported all the dead bodies to the police. In pursuit of the criminal, they went to China twice. Even though they had been told by the Moroccan Police who had arrested a man who had confessed to the crime. I am afraid the Commissioner Stone will do the usual thing and issue a statement saying how wonderful the Police are and that, she has a Plan very similar to Baldrick. Could he be a close relation? Excellent NNJournal report.