The family of a woman found dead at a sex offender’s home have criticised the police’s “bodged” investigation after his body is believed to have been found this week in a caravan close to where he vanished six months ago.
Relatives of Kelly Faiers said they were upset at how the news about the possible discovery of Richard Scatchard’s body was broken, claiming they did not have time to alert others close to Faiers before the police went public.
Scatchard, 70, from Minehead, Somerset, went missing after the death of Faiers, 61, at his address on 15 October last year.
Avon and Somerset police launched a search for Scatchard, saying he was wanted in connection with the investigation into Faiers’ death and warned that he posed a serious risk to women.
Faiers’ family have previously said “big mistakes” were made over the case after it emerged that officers spoke to Scatchard the day before he disappeared. He had dialled 999 to report she was critically ill. Scatchard has previously been jailed for sexual offences in which he administered drugs to his victims. When they returned the next day he had vanished. The Independent Office of Police Conduct is investigating.
The police said a member of the public found a body in a caravan near Cleeve Hill, in Watchet, on 4 April. Formal identification has not been completed but police suspect the man is likely to be Scatchard.
Det Supt Gary Haskins, of the major crime investigation team, said: “A forensic postmortem examination will be carried out in due course, but we believe the man’s death occurred some time ago.
Faiers’ family said they were upset that the force had put out details before telling them, which meant they had not been able to break the news to other relatives and friends.
Her daughter, Jazz, said on Facebook: “Found in a caravan not what we were told earlier, we were told he was found in the shrubbery and told to keep it a secret. Complete joke.” In a statement, the family said the investigation had been “bodged” from the start.
Scatchard and Faiers went out together for the evening on 14 October. Scatchard called an ambulance to his home address at 4.15am on 15 October, reporting Faiers was critically ill. She was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Police went to the property and spoke to Scatchard then left. They returned the next day to speak to him again, but he had disappeared. He was seen on CCTV footage in Watchet on 16 October.
A postmortem examination to determine the cause of Faiers’ death was inconclusive.
Responding to the family’s concerns, an Avon and Somerset police spokesperson said: “Family liaison officers were assigned to provide updates and offer support to Kelly’s family. A decision was taken yesterday, with neither family liaison officer on duty, for a detective sergeant who has had prior contact with Kelly’s family to update them about a body being found to ensure they learned of the latest development from us at the earliest opportunity.
“We asked the family to not publicise this at that point, because we had not yet informed all the other relevant parties.
“Following issuing of a public update regarding the discovery of a body, we received contact from Kelly’s family to express their dissatisfaction this had been issued. We called and apologised to them that this process had not been properly communicated with them.”
