Lessons to learn for police after tragic Birchley Island death
Police should have taken a more detailed statement from a lorry driver after he hit and killed an 11-year-old boy in his truck, a review has found.
Investigators have been told to learn lessons over the death of Kyle Bastable, who suffered “catastrophic” injuries when he was hit by a lorry at the Birchley Island in Oldbury in August 2017.
An inquest heard the crash was “unavoidable” and the Black Country coroner ruled the schoolboy died as a result of a road traffic collision.
An independent review into the investigation found it was “proportionate in the main” but identified “three main deficiencies”.
These included a failure by a Detective Sergeant to get a full account from the lorry driver and a failure to trace a potential witness to the crash who left the scene.
However, the review, carried out by an Inspector at Northamptonshire Police, supported the team’s decision not to take action against the driver.
Kyle’s grandmother Susan Bastable said the family felt let down by the police.
The lorry driver, who was found not to be responsible for the former Rowley Hall Primary School pupil’s death, was interviewed at the scene by DS Hughes following the tragedy, the report said.
But a full interview was never carried out and after viewing CCTV and “available evidence”, the driver was declared a witness rather than a suspect.
DS Hughes “did not document any decision about obtaining a more detailed witness statement from him”, the review found.
When challenged, the detective “accepted a further witness statement should have been taken” but insisted it had no bearing on the outcome of the investigation.
The report said: “The account was accepted by the coroner and it is accepted this has not affected the outcome.”
The review also concluded dash-cam footage should have been used to try and trace a driver who left the scene of the crash.
The report said “DS Hughes stated that he believed they had traced all potential witnesses but this fact had not been properly recorded”.
The calculation of the speed of the lorry before the crash by experts was also found to be inaccurate.
It had been travelling at 25mph and not 35mph as originally stated by investigators.
In response to a complaint from Kyle’s family the review concluded there were lessons to be learned but that there was “no evidence the collision investigation was biased in favour of the lorry driver”.
The DPD driver told the inquest he did not see Kyle crossing at the roundabout and that his “conscience is clear”.
DS Hughes said “throughout the investigation” the family had failed to accept “Kyle’s actions were a direct factor in his death”.
Kyle’s grandmother, of Rowley Regis, said: “They let Kyle down. If you run somebody over you would be arrested and then interviewed within an hour.
"It’s wrong. If it was a bobby on the beat then yes, more learning.”
She added: “We’ve gone through enough. It’s a big hole in our lives, I’ll never get over it and the police are not making it any better.
"When we go on holiday he should be with us, when we sit down for a meal at Christmas and Easter he should be with us.”
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “It was promptly established that, having taken into account all the circumstances, the collision was unavoidable.
"This conclusion has been further validated after two subsequent reviews.
“We acknowledge the areas of learning which were identified.
"These have been shared with officers as we continually strive to learn and improve as a force.”
