{"id":109123,"date":"2023-10-20T09:54:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2023\/10\/20\/alex-bendall-death-family-criticises-insensitive-police-response\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T09:54:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:54:02","slug":"alex-bendall-death-family-criticises-insensitive-police-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2023\/10\/20\/alex-bendall-death-family-criticises-insensitive-police-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Bendall death: Family criticises ‘insensitive’ police response"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A bereaved family has criticised a police investigation and claimed an officer described the body of their teenager as “bones in boots”. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alex Bendall, 18, who was also known as Alice, was found dead in a river near Dorchester, Dorset, weeks after going missing on a walk home. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The teenager’s parents said the actions of a minority of officers were “jaw-droppingly” insensitive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dorset Police said it was investigating the complaints.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alex had been missing for 70 days before a body was discovered in the River Frome by a dog walker on 22 April. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Bendall family had requested to be notified by telephone should a body be discovered – to allow them to gather and share a moment in private, before the inevitably traumatic formalities that would follow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the event, a series of texts were sent by police instead, asking for a meeting, but not explaining why. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The family missed them at first and officers later turned up on the family’s doorstep to break the news a body had been found.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alex’s mother Vicky Bendall said: “I cannot describe the shock I felt, because for 70 days, in my head, I’d been waiting for a phone call.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alex’s sister Mary, 17, said: “This officer informed me that they had found ‘bones in boots’, which obviously, I thought I wasn’t hearing right.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She said he then told her: “We don’t think they’re animal bones.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mary said she has had trouble sleeping since the encounter. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I now have this image of a skeletonised sister,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alex’s father Paul Bendall said the manner in which they were informed of the body find was “damaging” and has left them “unable to grieve”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He said the lack of a phone call meant a number of the family’s friends and neighbours knew before they did, as news of police activity quickly spread through the community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The family has put in a complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), after initially complaining to Dorset Police directly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a statement Dorset Police conveyed its “deepest sympathies” to Alex’s family. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Dorset Police has and continues to investigate concerns raised, following the missing person investigation,” the statement said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“This investigation into the complaints is currently ongoing and being overseen by our Professional Standards Team. It would therefore not be appropriate to comment at this time.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The IOPC said the family had the right to lodge a complaint if they were not satisfied with the outcome of Dorset Police’s investigation into the claims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The family has also revealed to the BBC existence of evidence that Alex may have been sexually assaulted at the age of 13, which they have passed to police.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After Alex went missing, the Bendalls discovered mentions of an attack in the teenager’s diaries, and found out Alex had confided in a friend about being “raped”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mrs Bendall said: “We want the Dorset Police to show us they are willing at least to explore the possibility that Alice was raped, given the fact there is evidence suggesting that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dorset Police said: “Officers were able to obtain information from a personal journal that Alex may have been a victim of abuse five or six years earlier. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“This was never reported to police and dates, times and locations are unclear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“However, police instigated the formal report of the allegations of historic abuse and disclosed our findings to the family.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A separate complex investigation into the findings has now been launched, which Dorset Police said was ongoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The scope and date of a future inquest into Alex’s death is yet to be decided.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC South on <\/i>Facebook, <\/i>X<\/a>, or <\/i>Instagram. Send your story ideas to <\/i>south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n