Lack of communication between police and other authorities "contributed significantly" to the events that culminated in a man killing a pensioner with a machete and hammer, the police watchdog has said.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has issued a highly critical ruling on North Wales Police, the National Probation Service and the Community Rehabilitation Company after the murder of 67-year-old retired restaurant owner Nicholas Churton.
The disabled pensioner, from Wrexham, was found lying dead on the sofa of his living room in Crescent Close, Wrexham, with major head injuries in March 2017.
He had been killed by Jordan Davidson, a few months after the then 25 year old had been released from Park Prison in December 2016. In the days before the killing Davidson had carried out two burglaries in the same area and boasted in text messages about his machete and how he was going to "go up a level" and "cross a line".
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said that in the three months after his release from prison, Davidson had been reported to police eight times for incidents including being in possession of a bladed article in a public place.
Davidson had not been classed as 'high risk' on release because he had not been convicted of any violent or sexual offences.
It meant that North Wales Police did not breach procedures as they were not required to highlight incidents to the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), who had responsibility for Davidson, or the National Probation Service (NPS).
But the IOPC has called for North Wales Police, the NPS and the CRC to improve their information sharing as a "matter of priority".
Neither the NPS or CRC were informed that Davidson was arrested for possession of a bladed article on March 19, 2017, until March 24, 2017, the day Mr Churton is understood to have been murdered.
The investigation also found a case to answer for misconduct for one police sergeant in relation to not carrying out an adequate assessment of available information prior to Davidson’s release on bail after he had been arrested for the possession of a bladed article.
The sergeant will face a misconduct meeting, to be arranged by North Wales Police, in due course.
IOPC director for Wales Catrin Evans said: “The ad hoc liaison arrangements between North Wales Police and the CRC have significantly contributed to the sequence of events. There was no documented process, clear audit or specific guidance for those dealing with incidents involving Jordan Davidson and the decision to engage with the CRC was left to the discretion and experience of individual officers, with varying results.
“Our role is to investigate serious allegations against the police and we have no direct remit over the Probation Service or CRC. We have shared and discussed the findings and learning from our investigations with these bodies, as well as Mr Churton’s family for whom I again express my sympathies.
“I am arranging a meeting with North Wales Police and the Probation Service to discuss systemic issues and reinforce the need for them to work together better. It is important that together they improve their processes and criteria for sharing information regarding medium and low risk individuals on licence.
“This could be through the use of automated processes for data sharing to allow for a timely decision to be made about whether to recall a person to prison.”
It is the conclusion of a second investigation and the IOPC team have been in continued liaison with North Wales Police, the NPS and CRC over their concerns arising out of the two investigations.
As a result of the first investigation into prior North Wales Police contact with Nicholas Churton, two officers faced misconduct meetings.
The IOPC and the force agreed that these officers had a case to answer. Misconduct was not found proven at the meetings held by the force and the officers’ conduct was deemed to amount to unsatisfactory performance.
A statement from the IOPC added: "We have also concluded an investigation into the conduct of former Chief Constable for North Wales Police Mark Polin.
"The investigation followed a complaint alleging that Mr Polin misled the complainant about the details of our investigation into NWP’s actions prior to the murder of Nicholas Churton.
"We carried out a thorough investigation into the allegations made within this complaint, but did not find any evidence to indicate that Mr Polin may have made a deliberate attempt to mislead the complainant.
"Publication of our full reports will await the conclusion of the outstanding misconduct proceedings."
