A murder victim’s body lay undiscovered for weeks despite police having been alerted to someone calling for help.
Avon and Somerset Police received an anonymous call to say someone had been heard shouting “call the police”, and sent officers to a flat in Yeovil where a man refused to let them in.
Three weeks later, the force received another anonymous tip-off to say there was a dead body at the same address.
It was only after several people were arrested that the body of Michael Wheeler, 37, was found elsewhere in a derelict caravan on farmland in Yarlington on September 25 last year.
The last confirmed sighting of Mr Wheeler alive was on August 24.
Details of the call were included in a report published on Thursday by watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on deaths following police contact.
Mr Wheeler was killed by Mark Roberts and David Garland at Roberts’ flat in Yeovil on August 24 last year.
They murdered him over a £100 and a mistaken belief that he was a convicted paedophile.
The IOPC report said: “Police received an anonymous call to a residential address reporting that a man had been heard shouting ‘call the police’.
“An officer attended and spoke to the man outside of the property who said he lived at the address but refused to allow the officer inside.
“Just over three weeks later, police received anonymous information about a dead body in the same address that the officer had attended.
“The information suggested the man had been murdered two or three weeks before. Inquiries were carried out, but police were unable to locate a body.
“Several arrests were made, including the man who lived at the address that was initially visited by the police officer. A short time after the arrests a body of a man was found.”
The IOPC investigated the decisions made by the sergeant who responded to the initial call.
A spokesperson said: “We began an independent investigation into the decisions and actions of a police sergeant in relation to his attendance at a residential address on August 24 2024.
“It followed a mandatory conduct referral from Avon and Somerset received on September 20.
“Our investigation concluded in March and we are in the process of informing all parties of the outcome.”
