Police conduct examined after two dogs returned to house leads to fatality – West Midlands Police, December 2025

Home - Our work - Learning - Police conduct examined after two dogs returned to house leads to fatality – West Midlands Police, December 2025 Police conduct examined after two dogs returned to house leads to fatality – West Midlands Police, December 2025 Published 18 Sep 2026 Investigation In October 2023, West Midlands Police received reports that a man had threatened his neighbour after he received a notice requiring him to re-house his dogs.

A crime report was generated. The same neighbour reported that the man had made further threats towards them the following month. A civil injunction was implemented in January 2024 prohibiting the man from keeping dogs in his house. In February, the man’s neighbour decided not to participate in the police investigation into the threats towards them and the investigation was closed.

In November 2025, the dogs attacked another dog in public, causing injuries to both dog owners. West Midlands Police seized the dogs. A Dog Legislation Officer determined the dogs were not a banned breed and a Police Staff Supervisor decided they could be returned to the owner. An officer searched and viewed the historic crime report from 2023 involving the neighbour and recorded that no intelligence was identified for dog-related incidents and previous history checks had been completed.

In December 2025, that officer, along with another officer and a police staff member, returned the dogs to the man. The civil injunction expired in January 2026. In April 2026, the dogs attacked a member of the man’s family at their home address. The family member died from their injuries and the man was arrested by the police on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing death.

We received a conduct referral from West Midlands Police in April 2026 and decided to independently investigate the actions and decisions of the two officers who returned the dogs. In May, we received a further referral in relation to the police staff member who decided to return the dogs, and the police staff member who was present during the return of the dogs.

We investigated the conduct of all four police officers/staff, including their actions and decisions in relation to the checks completed on the two dogs and the checks carried out on the man and his home before returning the two dogs into his care. We examined whether their actions and decisions were in line with legislation, national and local policies and procedures and guidelines.

Our investigators gathered evidential material from West Midlands Police, including crime reports, and the relevant guidance and policies. We also contacted the City Council, who confirmed that they had no record of notifying the police of the civil injunction, due to the type of injunction issued.

We obtained a copy of the injunction order. We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner to justify disciplinary proceedings. We found that the police were not informed of the civil injunction prohibiting the man from keeping dogs in his house, and the injunction was granted without the requirement to notify the police.

It was clear that the officers and staff involved would not have been aware of the injunction, even having done the appropriate checks. Therefore, there was no conduct to consider. We found that the officers and staff were diligent in exercising their duties and responsibilities. We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation.

We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. We did not identify any organisational learning in this case. IOPC reference 2026/005890 Tags West Midlands Police Sharing Share to Twitter [open in new window] Share to LinkedIn [open in new window] Share to Facebook [open in new window] Share via email [open in new window] Copy to clipboard [open in new window]