Help needed on attempted murder

[marketingdesign]

My family had a recent heated dispute with a neighbour. A few days later their boiler packed in only to find the flu had been blocked with expandable foam (the vicious neighbour is a builder). The Police were informed, took no evidence, finger prints etc. They were a neighbourhood team from small local station.
They also took almost 5-6 weeks to finally speak with 'obvious' suspect. The end result was - no proof, 4 people live in the house (wife and 2 teens) therefore case closed. I really don't think the young officer understood the severity of the action. Why else would you block a flu?? Especially if you know full well of the consequence (death by carbon monoxide poisoning).
The funny thing is no one else in the house was questioned. Nor can anyone access the flu apart from people on the neighbours gated property.
Is there any way the case can be re-opened by a more equipped force to deal with this matter? Or, who do we complain to without the situation being dealt with by the local neighbourhood force again.

[sandyRoe]

Write to the Chief Constable of the local force.

[Buenchico]

http://www.ipcc.gov.u...Pages/complaints.aspx

[Andyvon]

Marketingdesign,

I think the obvious problem is proving it was the neighbour/s who blocked the flue. For all the police know it could have been you who blocked it just to cause problems for your neighbours. People do funny things like that and it's more credible that you blocked your own flue than they came over and blocked it without anyone seeing or hearing them. The flue could have become blocked some other way.

There has to be absolute concrete proof for there to be a charge of attempted murder. Did you see them block the flue? It could have been blocked some other way. Can't you just see the neighbours being incredulous and then everything if the police even suggested all this to them? If there were some proof such as photos or CCTV then the police might act, otherwise I do see why they can't really take this any further.

[Andyvon]

Oh, I've just re-read the thread and seen it happened to a family member of yours. My points remain the same though.

[exdc]

Hello marketdesign

Initial question, can you confirm how the police have classified this matter, i.e. have they recorded it as a crime (if so then what) or have they classified it as an 'Incident' (neighbour dispute).

Thanks

[joko]

i would say it most definitely is attempted murder!
who ever did it only had one thought in mind....
it may not be violent or obvious, but it is a definite attempt to harm you...it is a deliberate act that has a definite outcome - like poisoning someones food...

they may claim they just intended to make you ill...but that would have been out of their control...so nonsense...

problem is proving they did it... check with your neighbours for security cameras


if you get no-where i would go to the papers... its a good story, and all your neighbours and friends will know exactly who you are implicating even though you dont actually accuse them by name....hopefully shame him and ruin his business...
you can make comments like 'flue is only accessible through a neighbours property, mr john smith, local builder'

[joko]

eddie - of course i know!
thats why i said the problem is proving it...or didnt you actually read my post?

i suggested other avenues in order to get somewhere with this because obviously without cctv, there can be no conviction...

that does not mean it wasnt attempted murder though...the evidence here points to the builder in quite a few ways - motive, him being the only person who could actually get to it, him having knowledge of flues etc... that is enough to point the finger, but not enough for the police.

a builder would know very well that would kill them...rather than just knacker the boiler...its a big risk

[exdc]

This would not be investigated as an attempt murder (which is technically harder to prove than murder) bu

[exdc]

grrr, i will try again in a mo

[exdc]

Ok, what the poster needs to do first is contact the police and confirm how they have classified this matter, i.e. have they recorded it as a crime or have they simply recorded it as an incident.

I agree (on the brief facts disclosed) that the consequence of blocking a flue 'could' be serious, therefore it could be argued the police should have recorded this matter as a crime. If the matter has been classed as a criminal act then an electronic record would have been produced which should detail all actions taken by the police to identify any evidence and identify suspect/s etc. If the officer believed there was insufficient info or evidence to progress this matter then this needs to be explained in the report which all gets checked by a supervisor / crime manager before being filed undetected.

If the poster believes the police have not dealt with the matter properly then the force can re-examine the investigation on receiving any complaint and take it from there.

A major problem for the police is volume of work per 'operational officer' and as such a lot of reported offences which lack hard evidence only get a basic investigation before being filed as undetected (depending on type of offence) therefore a lot of complaints by the public are justified.

Buenchico has attached a link to the IPCC, if you perfer to complain through them but they are likely to forward the complaint straight back to the original force's professional standards unit (PSD).