Exclusive: no charges against police who abandoned Wigan dad before hit-and-run death

Gareth Roper was walking home in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2022 when he was fatally injured in a collision with a speeding car on Lily Lane, Bamfurlong.

The motorist, Jamie Evans, is now behind bars, but the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had also suggested there might be a case of either gross negligence manslaughter or misconduct in a public office to be brought against the officers who released him from their van in the middle of the night shortly before the crash.

But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has now decided that there is not a realistic prospect of conviction for either offences, although it did criticise some of the officers’ actions.

The IOPC delivered the news to the Bryn 35-year-old’s family who say they are now appealing against the decision.

Come what may, the four officers have still to face Greater Manchester Police disciplinary proceedings which loved ones of the father of six are entitled to attend. There is also a coroner’s inquest yet to be held.

But speaking exclusively to Wigan Today, the victim’s mum Joyce King and sister Chloe Sinclair said they were deeply upset by latest developments.

Mrs King said: “When I got the IOPC letter I couldn’t stop crying. I had to take two days off work.

"We thought there was a strong case to answer and someone should take responsibility. We understand there were two sergeants and two rookies involved and one of the seniors surely decided to do what they did.”

Police had been called to the Roper household after a domestic incident involving Gareth and his wife Rachel but things had calmed down by the time a van arrived and Rachel had tried to turn them away. But Gareth, dressed only in his boxer shorts, was detained, put in the van and driven away.

Family presumed he was going to spend the night in a cell after an officer told Rachel that Gareth wouldn’t be needing his shoes that night. But a short time later, he was taken out of the police van in Platt Bridge town centre. He was left in the road clad only in his boxer shorts and his jogging bottoms, T-shirt and jumper were thrown at him as the van drove off.

In its letter, the IOPC says that in order to bring a case of gross negligence manslaughter, prosecutors would have to establish that a person was in breach of duty of care, whether that breach was a substantial cause of Gareth’s death and was so bad to be grossly negligent. It says CPS lawyer Alison Storey concluded there was unsufficient evidence to prosecute such an offence.

The letter adds: “Whilst it can be said, factually, that had the police not left Mr Roper at Platt Bridge he could not have been hit by a car, legal causation requires more than this “but for” test. There is insufficient connection between their actions and the subsequent collision some 30 minutes after.”

It said it was not inevitable from their actions that Gareth would be walking down the middle of the road (family think he did so because the pavement stones hurt his bare feet) nor that there would be a dangerous driver in the area.

As far as a realistic prospect of conviction for misconduct in a public office, the offence would have to be wilful, meaning the suspect must have an intention to cause the injurious result or disregard the possible risk of such a situation.

And Ms Storey said: “Although Mr Roper was intoxicated, he did not appear to lack capacity to care for himself, taking into account the police body-worn video, the account of the witness who spoke to him at the bus stop and the officers themselves. I do not consider that it was wrong to leave Mr Roper to walk home in those circumstances.

"Mr Roper was left some distance from home. This was to give him time to sober up and calm down and it was in line with the guidance, which reminds officers that if a person is not take sufficiently far from home they will simply return home quickly. It seems that there was a safe route home for Mr Roper and indeed he did start to walk that route. I do not consider that it was wrong to leave Mr Roper at that location.”

But Ms Storey said that the officers should have left Gareth on the pavement, not in the road, and that it was “inappropriate” for them to have left him when he was in a state of undress. They should also have ensured he had shoes.

Despite these criticisms, she said she had to conisider whether their conduct ammounted to an abuse of the public’s trust and case law shows the bar is a high one.

She added: “I have concluded that whilst the conduct in this case is serious, it does not quite reach that high threshold to elevate it from a disciplinary matter to criminality.

"The conclusion might have been different if Mr Roper had been completely incapable through drink, if it had been a very cold night, if he had been left without any access to clothes, if he had been left in a dangerous location, or if it could be established that there was some malevolent intention in the police actions.”

The IPOC said the CPS did stress that they were not suggestting the officers were blameless and they were aware that disciplinary proceedings are pending.

Chloe, who like her mum doesn’t believe Gareth was intoxicated at all, said: “After waiting all this time, it was very disappointing that we got such a decision. But we are definitely appealing.”