Tragedy of the torture victim left to die in tower fall after 999 blunder

A man who fell from a tower block after being tortured in a high-rise flat died after police were sent to the wrong floors following a 999 blunder, a sheriff has ruled.James Forbes, 37, was abducted and tortured by Lee Smith, also 37, in January 2024 and plunged to his death from the 12th-floor flat window.Sheriff Principal Andrew Miller, who led the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI), found that four reasonable precautions could have been taken that might have avoided the tragedy.These related to the recording of information from a 999 call, follow-up contact with a key witness, communication between officers and supervisors, and acting on information about Mr Forbes’s desperate pleas for help coming from higher floors of the building.The inquiry heard a key witness told a call-handler the screams appeared to be coming from around six floors below the top of the tower block.But the information was recorded as being around six to eight floors up from the bottom, sending officers to the wrong part of the building. James Forbes, 37, had been abducted and torturedMr Forbes’s sister Lyndsay-Anne called for a change in the law on how emergency services deal with concern for person call-outs.Commenting on the FAI findings, she said: ‘It’s been 998 days since Jamie died and since then I have campaigned to get answers for him.‘He did everything you’re supposed to do; he called for help when he was in trouble and would have believed the police would help.‘I can’t bear to think how he felt when he realised no one was coming and he was alone.’She said: ‘This proves there is a need for “Jamie’s Law” which would ensure officers called out to concerns for person can’t leave until they find the person in distress.’Mr Forbes was struck with a hammer, punched and kicked.Desperate to escape his torturer, he plunged to his death from the 12th-floor flat window.During the ordeal, witnesses had repeatedly called 999 after hearing screaming and seeing a man with blood on his face at the window of the property.One neighbour on the tenth floor reported a man shouting: ‘Please help me.’Police officers who attended the flats were unable to trace the source of the screams and left.Mr Forbes later fell from the window.The 99-page determination noted that information provided to a 999 call-handler about the location of Mr Forbes’s screams was not accurately recorded.An attempt was also never made to contact the 999 caller again to confirm the information she had provided.The FAI further found that police failed to act on information from men working in the area at the time, who reported screaming coming from the upper floors of the flat block on the morning of Mr Forbes’s death.Sheriff Miller made two recommendations for the Chief Constable, including improved guidance for call-handlers to reduce recording errors and new procedures on when callers reporting concern-for-person incidents should be recontacted before inquiries are closed.Andy Shanks, Procurator Fiscal for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: ‘James Forbes’s tragic death occurred in circumstances giving rise to serious public concern and, as such, the Lord Advocate decided that a discretionary FAI should be held. Mr Forbes fell from the 12th floor of Elphinstone Court, Aberdeen‘The sheriff’s determination identifies reasonable precautions which could have been taken and makes recommendations intended to help prevent deaths occurring in similar circumstances in future.‘The determination has been provided to Mr Forbes’ family and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.’Smith admitted culpable homicide and was jailed for eight years at the High Court in Edinburgh in December 2024.The court heard how when officers attended his flat, the property was discovered soaked in bloodstains.They found that the lock to the house had been ‘reversed’, which would have prevented the victim from leaving.They discovered Smith, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, washing up in his kitchen.Multiple residents had dialled 999 for help after hearing Mr Forbes’s screams.Officers attended the building and made door-to-door enquiries on the sixth, seventh and eighth floor but were not able to trace the source of shouting.A witness told the court that officers left and advised construction workers to call back if the shouting started again.Assistant Chief Constable Phil Davison said: ‘We are aware of the Sheriff’s determination and note the recommendations contained within.‘Work is already ongoing to review and enhance our processes relating to concern for person calls, both from a call-handling and response policing perspective.’In 2021, Police Scotland was fined £100,000 for health and safety failings over the M9 tragedy, when a woman was left dying by the roadside for three days.Call-handling failures flouted legislation and ‘materially contributed’ to the death of 25-year-old Lamara Bell.The mother of two was badly injured in a road crash on the M9 near Stirling on July 5, 2015, but was left for three days despite a member of the public contacting police on the 101 non-emergency number to report the wreckage.