Officers were responding to report of a burglary but stopped following vehicle as driver was not pursuit trained

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into the circumstances surrounding a fatal collision in Stalybridge found no evidence GMP officers had been in pursuit of the vehicle.

The IOPC received a mandatory referral from the force following the incident on Wakefield Road, on 3 November 2020, due to the fact a Volkswagen Golf had come to the attention of officers prior to it crashing into a wall at 6.21pm.

The officers were responding to reports of a burglary in the area and saw the Golf, whose occupants matched the description of the suspects, and the police driver then increased their speed to identify its registration details.

The driver of the Golf accelerated away and as the police driver was not pursuit trained, he stopped and reported the vehicle to the force control room. Several minutes later, as the officers were returning to Stalybridge to respond to another incident, they saw the Golf had collided with a wall.

The driver of the vehicle, Shae Marlow, 16, died at the scene. An inquest on Friday (18 November) concluded the cause of death was a road traffic collision. The male passenger travelling with him was seriously injured.

The officers involved were treated as witnesses throughout and investigators reviewed CCTV footage, as well as data from the police vehicle.

The evidence suggested the officers were not in pursuit of the Golf at any stage and had lost sight of it prior to the collision.

IOPC Regional Director Catherine Bates said: "We found the officers involved acted in line with their training and had pulled over a considerable distance from where the collision took place.

“This was a tragic incident in which a teenage boy sadly lost his life. Our thoughts are with his loved ones and all those affected by his death.

“It was important for an independent investigation to take place and establish the circumstances leading up the collision on 3 November 2020. Our report and findings were shared with the Coroner to assist with the inquest."