Family of ‘murdered’ woman slam police for ‘dodging’ investigation after body found

The family of a woman found dead in a sex offender’s home have criticized police after news that a body was found during a search for the sex offender was spread publicly without warning.

Relatives of Kelly Fells also said that when they expressed concerns on the police Facebook status about the discovery of Richard Scatcherd, comments were turned off.

Scatchard disappeared six months ago after Ms Faiers died at her Minehead home on October 15. On April 4, a body was discovered in a caravan near Mount Watchcliffe following a nationwide manhunt for a 70-year-old man wanted for murder.

Despite a history of drug abuse and abuse of women, Scatchard was only interviewed by Avon and Somerset Police at his home on the day of Ms Firth’s death before police returned the following day in October last year disappeared.

in previous interviews independent, Ms Fair’s family said they had to turn to Google to find Scatchard’s previous convictions and that police “failed” to arrest him at his home put them and the public at risk.

After the body was discovered, the family claimed they were initially told it had been found in bushland and were asked not to share details with the wider family, although Avon and Somerset Police released the details the next day.

in a statement independentMs Firth’s family said: “One of our family liaison officers informed us this morning that the body was found in bushland and had been there for a long time, so visual identification is not possible at this stage.

“Avon and Somerset [Police] A press release was issued without our prior knowledge stating that the body had been found in a caravan and not in bushland and our Family Liaison Officer was briefing us and providing support.

“We would like to clarify that as a family we dispute this assertion of support.

“One family liaison officer did not answer the phone and another is currently on annual leave.

“We received misinformation about where the body was found and received no support from family and friends who found out about the latest discovery through a press release from Avon and Somerset rather than through ourselves.”

They added that the comments section was closed after they inquired about the statement posted on the police Facebook page.

They said: “Unfortunately this reflects the general standards and lack of support we have received since the beginning of this embattled investigation, when Avon and Somerset failed to arrest Scatcha following the death of our mother De conduct interrogation.”

Her family have previously said Ms Firth struck up a relationship with Scatcherd after moving to Weston-super-Mare and saw him several times a month.

The “loving” mother was last seen in public as she and Scatchard enjoyed a night out. He then called the ambulance service at 4.15am on October 15 to report that Ms Faiers was critically ill. Paramedics pronounced her dead.

He was considered a danger to women, particularly in relationships, and had previous convictions for sex offenses and was wanted back in prison.

A post-mortem examination to determine the cause of Ms Firth’s death has been inconclusive and police have treated her death as suspicious and further tests are being carried out.

After police spoke to Scatchard on October 15, he went to Watchet and was last confirmed to be seen on CCTV in the Swain Street area at around 9am on October 16.

He was seen by a member of the public near his home address in Minehead at around 10am on October 16 before disappearing.

During the course of the investigation, police received around 100 unconfirmed reports of Scatcherd sightings, mainly in the Somerset West area.

Responding to the latest statement from Ms Firth’s family, a police spokesman said: “Yesterday, without any family liaison officer on duty, a decision was made to ask a detective sergeant who had had prior contact with Kelly’s family to speak to the family. They give an update.” Regarding the recovery of a body to ensure they get an early update from us, although an official identity has not yet been confirmed.

“We asked the family not to make the matter public at the time as we had not notified all other relevant parties at that time.

“Following the public update regarding the discovery of the body, we were contacted by Kelly’s family to express their displeasure with the matter. We called them to apologize and said the process had not been properly communicated to them.”

They added that Facebook decided to turn off comments about the discovery of the body because of speculation about the cause of death, which they said was “inappropriate and potentially distressing”.

Given this was a live police investigation, it was deemed the “smartest course of action” was to disable comments and posted an explanation on their Facebook page.

On December 20, Ms Faiers’ family complained to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) about the police’s handling of her death.

The force voluntarily submitted the complaint to the IOPC on January 4.

An IOPC spokesman said: “We can confirm that an investigation is ongoing into Avon and Somerset Police’s response to the death of Kelly Fells.

“This follows a complaint being referred to police in January this year.”