The police watchdog has revealed the results of an investigation
The Bismark House mill site today(Image: Manchester Evening News)
An investigation by the police watchdog has cleared three officers of potential misconduct after a fire at a mill in which four suspected cannabis ‘farmers’ from Vietnam died.
Greater Manchester Police was told, two weeks after the blaze, that a man could have been inside at the time. Demolition work, however, had already started after the mill was declared structurally unsafe.
Further contact from the same source, a Vietnamese chaplain based in London acting on information originating from families in north Vietnam, then voiced concern to police about other men being inside the mill at the time of the fire, an inquest into their deaths heard. Two months later, on July 23, 2022, demolition workers found human remains at the site – Bismark House Mill in Derker, Oldham.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said a ‘senior officer’ asked two other officers to ‘review’ the information in the days after the second disclosure.
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The watchdog said its investigation found the senior officer attended meetings after the remains were found – on July 25 and 27, and August 18 – ‘in which they did not disclose information that was received’ regarding the concern for the initial man.
In a statement, the IOPC said: “We accepted that the senior officer, who we investigated for potential gross misconduct, did not intentionally deceive colleagues. As a result, we found no case to answer in relation to their conduct, but their actions amounted to gross incompetence.
“Two officers were also served with a notice for informing them they were under investigation for a potential breach of professional standards that could amount to misconduct for their actions after being asked by the senior officer to review the information. We found minimum checks were carried out and lines of inquiry were missed. We did not consider this met the threshold for misconduct but one of the officers underwent reflective practice to improve their performance in future.”
Demolition work(Image: MEN Media)
GMP, in a statement in response, said the force regretted that ‘delays in response to initial information, linking the missing victims to the fire, did significantly increase challenges around the subsequent recovery process and criminal investigation’.
A coroner, however, said the lives of the men couldn’t have been saved.
Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley, sitting at Rochdale Coroner’s Court, said at the time of the blaze, there was ‘no intelligence’ to suggest anyone was inside the mill.
Ms Kearsley said the ‘earliest indication’ was on May 21, 2022, when GMP was contacted by the chaplain “Whilst I would agree with GMP that this information should have been acted on, and in my opinion would have led to investigation searches at a much earlier stage, there is no evidence at all that this would have made any difference to the individuals,” she said.
“Whilst I heard that things perhaps could have been done in a more timely fashion in some regards, I do want to also acknowledge the tremendous work done by all of the agencies on what was probably one of the most complex and challenging recovery and disaster victim identification operations ever.”
One of the four suspected cannabis ‘farmers’ told his family in Vietnam he was working inside a ‘factory’ and wasn’t allowed to leave, the inquest heard. Uoc Van Nguyen, 31; Cuong Van Chu, 39; Duong Van Nguyen, 29; and Nam Thanh Lee, 21 all died in the inferno.
The victims of the fire(Image: GMP)
Ms Kearsley ruled all four were ‘being worked by people’ involved in criminality to ‘assist in the criminal cultivation of cannabis’. Evidence heard entrances and exits to a unit inside the mill suspected of housing cannabis were kept locked.
Ms Kearsley said evidence of a ‘significant cannabis cultivation’ was found and that it ‘potentially’ was a farm. “Those four individuals who were in this premises did not seem to be able to escape,” she said. “No other reason or explanation has come to light to explain or even consider why four Vietnamese men were in this mill and from the totality of all of the evidence, I am satisfied that they were being worked by people involved in criminal activity to assist with the illegal cultivation.
“I think on balance it is likely that they were locked into this building and therefore had no means to escape once the fire broke out. It is likely that the deceased were locked in these premises in order to maintain a cannabis cultivation farm and were unable to exit once the fire started.
Ms Kearsley said all four men ‘appeared to have been driven by a desire to make a better life and support their families back home. “This desire and need appears to have been exploded with callous regard for their welfare and safety,” she added.
Emergency services at the scene(Image: MEN MEDIA)
The coroner said the families of the victims would be sent recordings and transcripts of the evidence heard and the inquest’s conclusions. Without the support and cooperation of the families, it was likely the men wouldn’t have been identified, she said.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, in evidence, said a fire investigation – launched only after the remains were found – failed to determine what caused the fire.
Ms Kearsley recorded open conclusions in relation to all four men.
In a statement, the IOPC said: “We can now confirm that, following a thorough investigation, we found no case to answer for misconduct for the three officers under investigation. We found the actions of a senior officer amounted to gross incompetence, for failing to disclose information they had received about concern for the welfare of a Vietnamese man who had reportedly been staying at the mill. Another officer also underwent reflective practice for their handling of this information once they were made aware of it.”
In a statement, GMP said: “While no lives could have been saved in this tragic incident, it is to our regret that delays in response to initial information, linking the missing victims to the fire, did significantly increase challenges around the subsequent recovery process and criminal investigation, due to the protracted demolition work that took place in-between. We referred this matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct and have fully cooperated with their investigation.
“Despite a delay in GMP’s response to initial calls in the weeks that followed the fire, it was not immediately clear that victims were amongst the considerable rubble, and there was no opportunity to save the four victims, who had already tragically lost their lives in the fire, several weeks prior.”