An Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into how Lancashire Constabulary handled a telephone call from Mohammed Shafiq prior to his murder has found individual failings by a call handler.

Mr Shafiq contacted Lancashire Constabulary on a non-emergency number at 1:05pm on 4 March 2008. He wanted to speak with an officer who had been dealing with an alleged assault on his son in February 2008, but that officer was unavailable.

Instead Mr Shafiq spoke with a female call handler and advised that he had been told that a group of men was following his son and he was concerned about his welfare.

Mr Shafiq’s call lasted seven minutes and 30 seconds and ended with him saying that he was going to the park where he believed his son was. The call handler ended the call by advising Mr Shafiq to distance himself from the incident and telephone the police should there be any problems.

Mr Shafiq died as the result of injuries sustained in an incident in Thompson Park, Burnley at approximately 1:30pm on Tuesday 4 March 2008. Mohammed Bilal Bhatti, 21, pleaded guilty to Mr Shafiq’s murder on 5 September 2008. Shazad Akhtar, 17, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, while Shahdab Akhtar, 19, and Omar Khalid, 19, both pleaded guilty to violent disorder. All will be sentenced on 26 September.

The IPCC investigated the handling of Mr Shafiq’s call and concluded that the call handler had failed to recognise the seriousness of the situation and logged the call as requiring a message to be passed on to the officer whom Mr Shafiq was originally trying to contact.

Analysis of the conversation revealed that the call handler missed key information because she was speaking over Mr Shafiq, failed to adhere to recognised standards and practices, and failed to recognise the need to dispatch police officers to the incident.

Discussions are ongoing with Lancashire Constabulary over the consequence of these findings for the call handler.

Naseem Malik, IPCC Commissioner for the North West, said: “Mr Shafiq contacted Lancashire Constabulary with real concerns about the welfare of his son. However he did not receive the service he needed and decided to deal with the situation himself, with tragic consequences. My sympathies go out to Mr Shafiq’s family and friends.

“Police call handlers have a very important role to play in understanding the needs of callers to ensure the appropriate response is given. In this instance an individual handled Mr Shafiq’s call badly, thus creating a situation where it appears he believed he had to deal with matters himself. That situation should not have developed and the public must be able to have confidence that when they report an emergency to the police they will receive the appropriate response.

Ms Malik added: “Standards and practices for call handling do exist already, but in this instance an individual member of staff failed to adhere to them. I hope lessons have been learned from this investigation.”