Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Police apologise for telling wrong family about man’s sudden death

Police admit 'human error' caused distressing mistake in Aberdeen 

Lizzie Dearden
Home Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday 06 September 2017 12:14 BST
Comments
Police say 'human error' by officers (not pictured) caused mistake
Police say 'human error' by officers (not pictured) caused mistake (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Police have apologised after telling the wrong family about a man’s sudden death.

Officers in Aberdeen had “limited information” to identify the man, which led them to a house in Peterhead where they believed his sister lived.

But it was “quickly” realised that the wrong next of kin had been identified, and the police later informed the bereaved family.

Chief Inspector Neil McDonald said: “During the afternoon of Sunday 3 September, Police Scotland attended the sudden, non-suspicious death of a man in Aberdeen.

“Unfortunately there was only limited information available as to the identity of the deceased and police commenced enquiry to establish details of his next of kin.

“As part of that enquiry, officers attended at an address in Aberdeenshire where they believed deceased's immediate family resided.

“Unfortunately, it was established that this was not the correct next of kin.”

Ch Insp McDonald said the mistake was “quickly identified”.

He added: “I have reviewed the circumstances with it appearing to be attributable to human error.

“Whilst I am content that our officers were attempting to identity the next of kin in difficult circumstances, this should not have happened and a supervisor has met with the affected family and apologised to them.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in