Police ignored 999 call an hour before family of four found dead at Norfolk home

Police have revealed that they did not respond to a 999 call from a man at a house in Norfolk where four people were found dead just an hour later.

The bodies of a man, woman and two young girls were found at the property in Costessy, near Norwich, on Friday morning, after a member of the public called police to raise concerns for the welfare of people inside.

Officers arrived on scene at around 7.15am and forced entry to the home on Allan Bedford Crescent, finding the bodies of a 45-year-old man, 36-year-old woman and two children, all of whom were found with injuries.

Norfolk Constabulary said on Friday it had referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct, as is standard practice, over a previous police contact at the house on 14 December – which related to a missing person enquiry.

Now it has emerged that the force has made a second routine self-referral to the watchdog after detectives identified a 999 call made at 6am on Friday morning by a man at the same address.

Police resources were not deployed to the address following the emergency call.

Post-mortem examinations will be carried out on each of the four bodies to identify their causes of death. Norfolk Police believe that the man and two children lived at the address, but the woman was visiting and lived elsewhere.

Officers are carrying out additional patrols on the Queen’s Hill estate throughout the day on Saturday, as detectives continue to investigate the deaths.

A police cordon remains in place and forensic investigations will continue inside the property, Norfolk Constabulary said. Detectives have been carrying out house to house enquiries, speaking with witnesses and are continuing to examine local CCTV footage.

“We’ve had a heavy police presence in the area since yesterday morning and there’s understandably concern in the local community,” said Detective Chief Inspector Chris Burgess, who is leading the investigation.

“However, their help and support in the investigation has been unwavering and on behalf of everyone involved in this devastating incident, we’re extremely grateful for that. Today, the focus of our enquiries remains at the address and we’re examining local CCTV.

“While we’re still piecing together what’s happened, at this stage we remain satisfied that this is an isolated incident.”

DCI Burgess added: “We’re aware of commentary on social media and in news media, however, I would emphasise that formal identification is yet to take place. As I said yesterday, we believe the man and two children lived at the address, and while the woman was staying there, she wasn’t a permanent resident.”