Officers accused of ‘hiding mistakes’ over Poppi’s death
A RETIRED detective who led part of the Cumbria police investigation into the death of Poppi Worthington has accused his former force of acting as though it is trying to hide its mistakes.
Mike Forrester took over the case two weeks after the 13-month-old girl, from Barrow-in-Furness, died in 2012.
A senior judge last week concluded that Poppi had been sexually assaulted by her father Paul shortly before she died and listed 12 separate failings in the police investigation into her death.
Mr Forrester was suspended during an investigation into the force’s handling of the case. He then retired from the service, meaning he no longer faces a misconduct hearing.
He said: “Because I have retired, something that had been planned well before this investigation, I am not allowed under police regulation to attend any hearing and defend myself or provide an explanation. If Cumbria police were really interested in learning lessons, they’d do the same. It looks as though they’re trying to hide some of those mistakes they made.”
A Cumbria Police spokesman could not be reached for comment last night but the force has said that lessons have already been learned from the case.
Mr Forrester called for a multi-agency review into the handling of the case and said key evidence had already been lost by the time he took over.
Poppi’s grandparents have called for the police and social services to face charges for negligence and for her father, who has denied any wrongdoing, to be “locked away for the rest of his life”.