Police missed chance to detain murderer Nicola Edgington on day she killed, report reveals

In a report published today by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), it is also revealed police officers failed to carry out background checks on the 32-year-old that would have revealed she had killed before.

The 41-page report describes in detail the four calls Edgington made to police from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich on the morning she stabbed 59-year-old Sally Hodkin to death.

She told the phone operator she was going to kill someone and asked “is it going to take for me to kill someone so I can get seen?”

When asked by a police communications officer where she was during her last call from the hospital, she said she felt like she was at the gates of heaven.

The report found PC Phillips and PC Payne – the two officers who escorted Edgington to hospital at 4.30am – missed the chance to detain her.

When she made it clear she wanted to leave the hospital, the IPCC says the pair had the power to detain her using powers given under section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

It also detailed how police staff did not carry out checks on the Police National Computer (PNC) during their conversations with her whilst she was at the hospital.

These would have revealed her conviction for the manslaughter of her mother Marion in 2006.

Furthermore, the report says Greenwich Police were not notified Edgington was living in the borough following her release from an indefinite hospital order.

Instead, the National Offender Management Service sent a letter explaining Edgington’s background to police in Kent.

IPCC Commissioner Sarah Green said: “While our investigation found no police officers or staff breached the code of conduct, it is of great concern that no PNC check was carried out which would have immediately alerted them to Edgington’s violent history.

“Without this PNC check, both the police and staff at Queen Elizabeth Hospital were without crucial information which may have influenced their future decisions, increased the urgency of the situation and could have escalated the medical attention she was given.”

She added: “It is to be hoped both the MPS and the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust will learn lessons from this tragic case to improve the handling of high risk individuals such as Nicola Edgington in the future.”

Edgington’s begs to police for help

It was 4:01am on the morning of the attack police were first alerted to Edgington, when officers received a call from George Christou, a controller at Express Cars in Greenwich.

He told them how Edgington had been returned to the minicab office after travelling in one of the firm’s cars to Lewisham Hospital with no money.

Even at this stage, she was telling Mr Christou as she sat the firms back office that she “needs to be sectioned” and “hasn’t slept for weeks.”

PC Phillips and PC Payne then attended and an ambulance was called after Edgington admitted she suffered from mental health issues and needed medicine.

Edgington then refused to “get in that big box” [the ambulance] so the two officers agreed to drive her to hospital – not conducting any PNC checks into her background first.

On arrival at the hospital at 4:29am, there were 15 other patients waiting to be seen by a triage nurse and PC Phillips and Payne left her in the waiting room to be seen.

At 4.31am, Edgington left the hospital but was escorted back inside as a voluntary patient by the two policemen.

She then tried to telephone for a taxi but was reminded that she had no money.

At 4.37am, Edgington again left the hospital and re-assured the policemen she was only having a cigarette.

The two police officers then left to attend to another call.

Fifteen minutes later, after asking the receptionist how much longer she would be waiting, Edgington made her first call to police saying “the last time she felt like this she killed someone.”

Police graded this first call ‘significant’ – meaning officers would attend within an hour – but after speaking with PC Phillips who had left the hospital earlier, communications officer Tracie Ingram decided there was no need to attend as Edgington was in a place of safety.

At 5.13am, Edgington dialled 999 again “asking for help before she hurts someone” and asking to be taken into custody, saying she had previously been sectioned for murder.

Communications officer Ian Rigby ranked the call ‘immediate,’ meaning police would attend within 12 minutes – but no checks were again carried out on the PNC about her history.

But after reading the earlier report from Ms Ingram, who said Edgington was in a place of safety, the call was again downgraded and police were not required to attend.

During Edgington’s third call at 5:21am she was crying and repeating how she needed assistance, this time telling communications officer Mandi Okafor she was a “very dangerous schizophrenic.”

After being told by the officer she was in a place of safety, she was asked what her emergency was.

Edgington replied “that I will hurt someone.”

The hospital were then informed about the calls before Edgington dialled 999 once more at 5:27am.

Crying and shouting down the phone, she told communications officer Bob Shaftoe she had killed her mum and “was at the gates of heaven.”

When she eventually admitted she was at the hospital, she said she was “too scared to go inside as she felt someone was going to kill her.”

Mr Shaftoe then called the hospital directly and made them aware of the situation at shortly after 5:30am, Edgington was assessed by psychiatric mental health nurse Hakim Boampong.

Previous calls to police

The IPCC report said Edgington frequently contacted police in the days running up to the fatal stabbing.

On October 6, 2011 she dialled 999 to report how she was receiving death threats from a group of people in a takeaway chicken shop, telling the officer on the phone that police “need to come now.”

A day later she reported again that threats were being made against her and on October 9, she called to report men smoking crack in her communal living room.