Police who tweeted a Top Gun gif to celebrate identifying a woman’s dead body are now being scrutinized by another force after a police surveillance report criticized the investigation into her death.
Analysis by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) suggested that Kent Police detectives did not adequately collect, record or assess all the information before concluding that Azra Kemal’s death was not suspicious.
The Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Department of Professional Standards is now reviewing the investigation.
It has been four years since the 24-year-old died in July 2020 after falling from a two-way bridge over the River Medway on the A21 in Kent. Her car broke down nearby and caught fire. She was traveling back to London with a friend.
In a tweet posted on the day of Azra’s death, Kent Police congratulated its officers on the speed of their work using a GIF from the film Top Gun, where the characters Maverick and Goose greet each other.
This celebration was due to the fact that they “identified the deceased person approximately 90 minutes after arriving at the scene”.
The police watchdog report noted that this message could raise concerns “that the force is in a rush to complete its investigations”.
Read more: Remembering the ‘phenomenal’ Azra Kemal
After discovering the tweet, Azra’s mother Nevres Kemal told Sky News it was “just horrible”. She had previously filed complaints in areas where she felt her daughter’s death had not been properly investigated.
His complaint stated that “procedures were not followed, evidence was not collected, data from a witness was not followed up”.
It is suggested that “presumptions were made” about Azra’s character and the only suspect in a potential murder investigation was released as a witness before his account had been properly examined and other evidence, such as forensic examinations and witness statements, had been obtained.
The IOPC report published late last year stated: “Having reviewed the rationale for the review and all background documents, I agree with their concerns.”
The report’s author said the investigating officer “took risks” in releasing the suspect as a witness within 24 hours of Azra’s death, but “did not rationalize” why he did so in his notes “when he was largely based on the evidence provided by the suspect.”
Nevres Kemal, Azra’s mother, has been asking the police to reopen the investigation
They added: “In my opinion, I do not feel that all available information has been collected, recorded and evaluated thoroughly before making a decision… and therefore the level of service here is not acceptable.”
This decision to release the suspect led to another decision not to perform a full forensic autopsy on Azra’s body to look for more evidence of anything suspicious happening before her fall. This is also criticized in the report.
Azra’s mother, who is supported by the Women’s Justice Centre, wants police to reopen the investigation into Azra’s death.
Kemal says: “Kent Police decided Azra’s life was worthless, so they didn’t look at the evidence and investigate her death because they decided not to.”
She added: “Everyone in this country deserves to have the deaths of their loved ones investigated properly according to the law. No one is above the law – especially the police. As long as I breathe, I will pursue the people who failed my son.”
Mural of Azra Kemal under the road from where she fell
Initially, a review of the Kent Police investigation by Essex Police found it “acceptable”, but this new IOPC report, seen by Sky News, concluded that this investigation was “not reasonable and proportionate”.
Read more on Sky News:
Global IT disruption: All it took was a few lines of code
Leeds: How did an apparent incident reach such a level of disorder?
Beth Rigby: ‘My schedule is crazy. I couldn’t do it without my partner who stays at home’
Referencing the Top Gun tweet, the author of the IOPC report tells the complainant: “It appears to you that the force has made public the fact that it is satisfied with a speedy resolution of this incident; I understand that a complaint has been made about the content of the tweets published by the force shortly after the incident.
“While it is not appropriate to go into detail about these tweets, given the ongoing reporting, I reference them as I can see that this would only heighten their concerns that the force was in a rush to complete their investigations, and that they were not thorough in your analysis and consideration of the evidence.”
Azra’s mother says her daughter should have had a forensic autopsy
Kent Police told Sky News it is “supporting an independent review of the investigation into the death of Azra Kemal on 16 July 2020. It would be inappropriate to comment further until any findings of the review have been established.”
Keep up with the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The complaints are now being independently reinvestigated by the Department of Professional Standards in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
