Scope response to the IPCC report into the death of David Askew

21 March 2011

Commenting on the findings of the IPCC report into the death of David Askew, Richard Hawkes, chief executive of disability charity Scope said:

“We had hoped the Fiona Pilkington case in 2009 would have been the wake-up call for police forces around the country to finally address the issues of disability hate crime. Yet one year later, another report has identified the same failures in the handling of such cases. http://www.scope.org.uk/news/scope-comment-on-fiona-pilkington-verdict

“Many disabled people experience harassment and abuse on a daily basis; simply because they are different. It often starts with low level incidents, but if not dealt with can, as this case has shown, escalate into something much more serious. Often disabled people will find it hard to come forward to report such crimes because they find the justice system inaccessible. Others will try to ignore it.

“In David Askew's case, despite reporting 88 separate incidents over a six-year period, officers were not informed of the family's incident history nor recorded any of the incidents as hate crimes which should have triggered the need for a more strategic response.

“Disabled people need to have the confidence that the crimes they report will be dealt with appropriately.

“The police need to invest in more training for frontline officers so they can identity these crimes as hate crimes and we still need more joined up working between police forces, local authorities, housing providers and disabled people if we ever hope to combat this prejudice.”

Notes:

Read Scope's report on disability hate crime. http://www.scope.org.uk/campaigns/scope-campaigns/disability-hate-crime

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