Watchdogs have criticised Police Scotland over the way it handled complaints made by a mother falsely accused of trying to murder her disabled daughter.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) said seven out of 10 complaints made about the investigation of Kirsteen Cooper were “not reasonably handled” by the force.
In July 2017, Kirsteen was arrested and put in a cell overnight after staff at the Royal Hospital for Children (RCH) in Glasgow wrongly accused her of stealing blood from her seven-year-old daughter Baillie to make her anaemic. The criminal case was dropped after a haematologist said Baillie’s anaemia was caused by her complex illness, a diagnosis later backed by her consultant at RCH.
Kirsteen complained to watchdogs, saying police should never have held her in cells and she should have had access to lawyers, among other complaints. Speaking about her ordeal, Kirsteen, 42, from Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, said: “I couldn’t believe what was happening. I was devastated. I felt empty.
“How could anyone possibly think I could have hurt Baillie? I can never explain the pain I felt.”
Hospital staff called in police after they wrongly suspected the mum of three of fabricated or induced illness (FII), also known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a form of abuse that occurs when a parent or carer deliberately causes symptoms of illness in a child.
All criminal investigations into Kirsteen were later dropped. After she and her family had endured a two-year ordeal of limited contact with Baillie, a referral to the children’s panel was also abandoned. In October 2017, Kirsteen officially lodged her concerns with Police Scotland about its part in the investigation but it rejected all 10 of her complaints.
In a review of the force’s response, PIRC said police mishandling of Kirsteen’s complaints included her concern she was interviewed by officers without the legal entitlement of a caution and a lawyer, despite days earlier a police log referring to her as “the suspect”.
The report confirms police knew Kirsteen was suspected of FII by hospital staff in January 2017 but officers claim when they took statements from her on February 6, 7 and 8, she was classed as a witness and so a caution and lawyer was unnecessary. Police Scotland admitted in its complaint response to Kirsteen she had been referred to in a log on February 2 as “the suspect”, but said it had been “an input error”.
PIRC said there had been “an insufficient inquiry” by police into the complaint and they must now clarify exactly when Kirsteen’s status changed from witness to suspect. In July 2017, Kirsteen was arrested, taken to Motherwell Police Station and charged with the attempted murder of Baillie. She was later released and the criminal case was never pursued.
Last night, Kirsteen said: “I was convinced if I answered their questions the whole mess would be cleared up but, given I was later arrested, I should have had a lawyer with me.”
Chief Superintendent Alan Waddell, the local police commander, said: “The recommendations from this (PIRC) review are being implemented as part of wider organisational learning.”
