Metropolitan Police to reopen investigation into decision to charge Caroline Flack with assaulting boyfriend
The family of the former Love Island and X Factor presenter says they still have “important unanswered questions.”.
The police are to reinvestigate the circumstances leading up to the decision to charge Caroline Flack with assaulting her boyfriend.
The TV presenter died in February 2020, with a coroner saying she took her own life after discovering she was definitely going to be prosecuted.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had recommended she only get a caution, but this was overturned after London’s Metropolitan Police appealed.
Flack, 40, was ultimately charged with assault by beating over the incident, which involved her boyfriend, Lewis Burton, in December 2019.
The Metropolitan Police has now said it’s making “further inquiries” because “new witness evidence may be available” about officers’ actions in appealing the CPS decision.
The former Love Island host’s mother told the Daily Mirror: “We won’t stop until we get the truth.
“Something very unusual happened to Carrie at the police station that night, but no one kept a proper record explaining why.
“I have now made a complaint to compel the officer to give the statement we think he should have given four years ago.
“As a family, we have been left with important unanswered questions.”
Met Police said it had referred a complaint from Flack’s family to the police watchdog, the IOPC, on March 7.
“The IOPC decided the majority of the matters had previously been dealt with and no further action was required,” said a Met statement.
“The IOPC returned one aspect of the complaint back to the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) to consider further.
“This relates to the actions of officers in appealing an initial decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to charge Ms. Flack and because new witness evidence may be available.
“DPS officers are now making further inquiries in relation to this.”
It isn’t the first time investigations into the Flack case have been carried out.
The DPS previously found there was no misconduct, prompting another complaint from Flack’s family to the IOPC.
It also didn’t find any misconduct by the Met. However, it ordered the force to apologise for not recording its reason for appealing against the caution.
Caroline Flack’s mother rejected that apology at the time.
Caroline Flack’s family members have received an apology from the Met Police over the force’s failure to keep a record about a decision to charge her with assault rather than giving her a caution.
The former Love Island presenter was facing prosecution for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend when she took her own life in February 2020.
Her mother, Christine Flack, has said she believes her daughter was treated differently by the police because she was famous.
Following the incident involving Flack and her boyfriend Lewis Burton in December 2019, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recommended that the star should receive a caution. However, the Met Police appealed this, and she was instead charged with assault by beating.
At the inquest into her death, a coroner ruled that the 40-year-old star took her own life after learning prosecutors were pressing ahead with the charge.
A spokesperson for the Met Police said the force was ordered to apologise to Flack’s family following a review by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which found there was not a “record of rationale” to appeal against the CPS decision.
“We have done so and acknowledged the impact that this has had on them,” the Met spokesperson said. “Our thoughts and sympathies remain with Ms. Flack’s family for their loss.”
After an initial investigation by the force’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) found there was no misconduct, Flack’s family escalated their concerns to the IOPC, and the Met was ordered to reinvestigate complaints relating to the process involved in appealing against the CPS decision.
This investigation concluded in May 2022, with the DPS finding again that the service provided was acceptable, although the force did identify “some learning around using IT systems to record appeal decisions and the use of decision models for cautions, which are being implemented.”.
In June 2022, the IOPC received another application to review the force’s reinvestigation.
An IOPC spokesperson said that following “a thorough assessment of this case,” the review had been partially upheld. While it did not identify any misconduct, it concluded that one officer should receive “reflective practice.”.
“We determined there were individual and organisational failings by the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service); therefore, the service provided did not reach the standard a reasonable person could expect in relation to some aspects of the reinvestigation,” the spokesperson said.
“This is because the officer involved did not record their rationale for appealing the original CPS decision to take no further action, and the force, at that time, had no system in place to record rationales in these circumstances.
“We have concluded the officer involved should be subject to the reflective practice review process. We have also asked the MPS to apologise to the complainant in relation to the rationale recording and the absence of a system to record such rationales.”
The announcement of the new investigation comes as it was revealed Caroline’s former X Factor co-presenter, Olly Murs, will top the Flackstock festival in July.
The event in memory of the presenter is in its third year and raises money for mental health charities.