The family of a missing woman from London found dead in Wales have called for changes in the Metropolitan Police after an inquest heard how "inadequacies" in the force's investigation possibly led to her death.
The body of 28-year-old marketing director Hannah Warren was found near the entrance of Port Talbot docks on February 4, 2016, around 100m away from where her car was found in a lock. Her family issued a statement at the conclusion of the inquest in Swansea paying tribute to her "natural style, charisma and flair" and calling for changes in the Met Police to ensure that "multiple missed opportunities to intercept Hannah" were not repeated in future.
The hearing before a jury was told how the London police force had been carrying out an investigation to locate her as a medium-risk missing person after she was reported missing the previous day. The status was later changed to high-risk.
Read more: Popular Big Issue seller with 'heart of gold' died days before moving in with her son
Ms Warren's black Mini Cooper car had not been located but activated an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera in the Margam area at 3.23am on February 4, the inquest was told. CCTV footage captured her car entering the dock at 3.48am – nearly 15 hours after she drove from her home in southwest London at 11.16am on February 3 2016. Assistant coroner Edward Ramsay has vowed to carry out a "full and fearless investigation" into the circumstances surrounding Miss Warren's death and whether she intended to take her own life.
The inquest, which started on Monday January 16, heard how Ms Warren was allegedly raped by a colleague a year before her death. In the hours which led up to her disappearance, it was heard how she had been acting irrationally and displayed signs of delusion, believing she had spoken to former US president Barack Obama, had hacked into a government website and was being chased by government officials.
In the 15 hours that Ms Warren drove her car, the inquest heard how she travelled from London to Brighton, then to Exeter and Weston-super-Mare. She then joined back onto the M5 before joining the M4 to south Wales. The inquest heard how the Met Police did not contact Ms Warren's family and therefore did not determine if she had any family or social connections to the areas.
You can read more from the inquest here:
During the inquest's conclusion on Thursday, January 26, the jury recorded Ms Warren's medical cause of death as 1A drowning and 1B head injury. They said "inadequacies in the Met Police investigation [did] possibly cause or contribute to her death." The force also admitted five shortcomings in the investigation, which are:
- On the overnight response team shift, which received the handover from Insp Holliday, there was a lack of action taken to progress the missing person investigation.
- There was insufficient and insufficiently timely use of the ANPR Bureau by officers investigating the missing person investigation.
- There was a failure to contact Ms Warren's family, in particular to check whether Ms Warren had any known friends or family members in the west of England.
- There was a shortcoming in the flow of communication from calls received into the Met Police by regional police forces to the response team investigating the missing persons investigation.
- The ACT placed on the Police National Computer directing a stop of the vehicle was marked as low-grade when it could have been marked as medium-grade.
In their statement, Ms Warren's family said they would endeavor to pursue that changes are made in the force "to prevent a similar outcome".
It reads: "Seven years ago, after an uninterrupted five-hundred-mile journey, Hannah’s life tragically ended in an unsafe dock at Port Talbot, Wales. Two Independent Investigations (IPCC) into the Metropolitan Police found there to be no failings, learnings, or recommendations. This inquest, however, has found multiple missed opportunities to intercept Hannah and five admitted shortcomings from the Met Police.
"It is our belief that should this situation arise again, changes within the Met Police are not yet sufficient to prevent a similar outcome. For Hannah’s legacy, we will endeavour to pursue that changes are made. The family would like to thank DS Nigel Morgan of South Wales Police for his continued support and Coroner Edward Ramsey for his extensive work into compassionately exposing the complexities surrounding Hannah’s death.
"We would also like to thank our legal representatives, friends, family and any person(s) involved in supporting us through this process. Hannah’s natural style, charisma and flair gave her the rare ability to mean so much to so many people. Words cannot express the gaping hole that has been left in our family and we miss her dearly. After seven years, we are grateful she can now rest in peace. Where we saw the crescent, she saw the whole of the moon."
READ NEXT: READ NEXT:
Football club boss claimed abandoned shed was gym in Covid grant fraud
Predatory sex offender seen 'loitering in changing rooms and giving sweets to children'
Online drug dealer who used NHS logo and called himself the Narcotic Health Service busted by FBI
Cocaine dealer rammed man's van after challenging him to fight at bingo hall
Man had sexual relationship with his own daughter who had grown up believing he was dead
You can sign up to our regular Crime and Punishment newsletter here while this interactive tool allows you to check the latest crime statistics for your area:
