A Norfolk Police staff member faces a misconduct case following a probe into the handling of a 999 call with a killer father, who said he had a knife an hour before stabbing his young daughters and their aunt.
Polish-born Bartlomiej Kuczynski, 45, his daughters Jasmin, 12, and Natasha, eight, and his sister-in-law, Kanticha Sukpengpanao, 36 were found dead on January 19. 2024.
All died from stab wounds to the neck, with police concluding Mr Kuczysnki murdered the other three before turning the knife on himself at a property in Allan Bedford Crescent, in Costessey, near Norwich.
It has since emerged, following a probe by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), that an hour before officers arrived to the scene at around 7am that day, Kuczynski had called 999.
An audio recording revealed the 45-year-old told the call handler: ‘I am walking with the knife. I have just lost the plot,’ before raising further mental health concerns.
After the conversation with Mr Kuczysnki, the call handler did not send out any police or emergency services to the scene and no call log was recorded.
The call was later flagged by the police staff member to a supervisor after they had seen the media coverage surrounding the incident later that day.
As part of the IOPC investigation, the call handler was questioned, and said while he understood that Mr Kuczynski was calling in relation to his mental health, he did not hear the word ‘knife’ and would have acted differently had he done so.
The watchdog has since determined there is a misconduct case for the call handler to answer due to the decisions made during the conversation with Mr Kuczysnki.
The Norfolk Police staff member has been updated regarding the outcome of the probe and will face a misconduct meeting, which is to be organised in due course.
It is understood misconduct meetings are not held in public, with possible outcomes ranging from words of advice, a written warning or a final written warning.
The staff member was initially suspended but following a review has since returned to work and remains on restricted duties.
Yesterday, a pre-inquest hearing was held at Norfolk Coroner’s Court where the inquest was delayed until 2026, pending the completion of a Domestic Homicide Review.
During the hearing, reference was made to the Right Care Right Person initiative, which assesses if the police are the most appropriate service to respond.
This initiative was launched in Norfolk in May 2024 and still sees officers attending incidents where there is a policing purpose to do so.