Thread by @jamiemroberton

🚨Exclusive: A grieving mother is being threatened with prosecution unless she deletes a damning review into police failings in her daughter's case.

We reported on Danielle Charters-Christie's story last year - police conduct since has raised alarm
channel4.com/news/exclusive…

Danielle Charters-Christie was found dead inside the caravan where she lived with her partner - who had been accused of domestic abuse – in Gloucestershire on 26 February 2021.

Gloucestershire Police ruled her death as suicide within 55 minutes of arriving at the scene

A critical review into the police investigation found:

🚩A failure to forensically examine the scene
🚩No effort made to forensically Danielle's body for trauma
🚩The caravan had been "disposed of" by the time of her partner's eventual arrest on suspicion of murder

One of the most shocking revelations from the review found that the father of Danielle's partner - a local undertaker - was granted permission to transfer her body to a morgue from the scene of her death.

He said he wanted to be the one to "bag her up"
channel4.com/news/exclusive…

Gloucestershire Police agreed to an interview with @Channel4News last October, admitting failings and that “evidential opportunities” had been missed.

The assistant chief constable said “no one should have to go through” what Caroline Charters endured in challenging the force

@Channel4News Four months later - a significant development.

Caroline Charters received a text message from a senior officer in February requesting to meet with “new information”.

Ms Charters believed this was significant in her search for answers.

The reality, however, was very different

Caroline Charters was instead told that she MUST destroy the very document that revealed the damning failings in her daughter’s case.

Gloucestershire Police claimed this was due to a “serious data breach”, threatening “legal enforcement action” if she failed to comply

The mother-of-four has refused to agree to the demands for deletion, accusing the force of “trying to silence her for exposing their failings” in her daughter’s case.

The below email sent by Gloucestershire Police - just two weeks’ ago - again raised the prospect of prosecution

Caroline Charters: “This document is really important - it proves how the police did not adequately investigate my daughter’s death.

“My daughter deserves justice. I want accountability. My other living children deserve to know the truth about what’s happened to their sister”

🚨This may all sound a bit technical around alleged data protection breaches...

But a Victim's Right to Review is absolutely critical to a bereaved family in understanding how their loved one died - and in ensuring police are accountable for the investigations they conduct

I have spoken to a number of contacts in legal circles and victims' groups since Caroline Charters alerted us to this development - nearly all had never heard anything like the action being pursued by police in this case

Gloucestershire Police is standing by its position, telling @Channel4News: “While we are empathetic to Caroline’s concerns relating to our request, we have a legal duty to protect those whose information we inadvertently released".

It is not clear who reported this "data breach"

The force has sent Ms Charters a brief six-page document – described as an “outcome letter” – to replace the extensive 74-page document.

This letter removes strips out ENTIRELY all the detailed findings listed in the original review

🚨 New: The Home Office has responded directly to our reporting of Caroline Charters’ case, telling @Channel4News that the government would “always expect police to prioritise investigating suspicious deaths thoroughly and to treat bereaved families with compassion and respect”

@Channel4News In what may be seen as a rebuke of Gloucestershire Police’s treatment of Caroline Charters, the Home Office spokesperson continued: “We expect to see police using their resources to pursue perpetrators and protect victims from harm”

Reminder that this ordeal has followed the sudden death of a 25-year-old, leaving a family beyond devastated.

“Danielle was a bright, intelligent young woman who fought for everything that she believed was right – that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing now,” her mum said tonight

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