This is a tragic and terrible case.....How could the scene of the alleged crime not have been thoroughly searched in the first instance?

Because it wasn't an alleged crime at the time - just another missing person.

No doubt the police had their suspicions but searching the house on day one would be considered an unreasonable act without any leads.

A terrible case and once again it looks like the culprit is not some shady paedo lurking round the corner in a dirty mac but a family member.

Sorry!....No crime committed at the time she went missing.....But it certainly appears to be somewhat lax that the last place she was seen wasn't fully searched before more than a week had passed.

Again, it appears that the culprit is a close friend /member of the family....Appalling!

and so very, very sad.

Another family torn apart.

DEP Tia

Our police are frightened of their own shadows these days - there are more detectives investigating other detectives than ever before.

In this case the horrible grandmother's boyfriend should have been arrested as soon as it was established that after he allegedly saw the girl leaving the house, leaving her mobile behind, she was never seen again, with CCTV all over the place.

Instead they waited until the boyfriend scarpered and even then didn't search the house until after the sniffer dogs smelt the rotting body.

Society gets the police force it deserves, if they're investigated every time they put a foot wrong, they'll make sure they don't.

That DCI who waited a week only ensured he would get the next rank. Had he jumped in and got it wrong, the Guardian would have crucified him and he would soon be riding a police motor bike around the M25.

I wondered how long it would be before one of BE's resident experts ran in and screamed incompetence.

Unfortunately that's the way things are in today's police force.

As much as they'd like to get on and do their jobs, they have to spend half the time covering their own arses and most of the rest doing paperwork.

Cameron talks about improving things in this respect and lets only hope he can, even if he has to stamp on a few thousand fluffy bunnies in the process.

Absolutely true. I know a guy who was a DCI on the Flying Squad, when the chinless wonders at the top still gave them some allowances to bend the rules a bit to get the big guys - you can't get them any other way.

He was particularly successful in getting armed robbers back from the CDS, before Spain signed the extradition treaty, but he got into big trouble.

They took his rank away, stuck him back in a uniform, and gave him a bike to ride around the M25. He was a big man who liked a drink, and fell off his bike on the first corner, getting him an immediate injury pension.

Nowadays, he wouldn't last a minute in our police force.

Oh dear god, is there nothing we are not all experts on?

Get a grip Matt.
You're obviously running around like a bear with a sore head after reading that Guardian article.
I'm sure there must be some rags with a feel good factor about them to cheer you up a bit.

This is really important to you isn't it? This forum I mean. Its really important isn't it?

This is too serious a subject so please stop the bickering

I agree 100% but all this crap about the police this and the police that, tosh!

Interesting that the dog didn't find the body even days after she went missing, makes you wonder what the chain of events were.

Looks like they have caught up with him, maybe the lynch mobs can calm down now!

So this is a thread about how bad the police did, instead they should act recklessly and I think people are saying immorally and illegally. People are saying that the police making sure that they are not investigated by other police for crimes is a bad thing.