Yasmin Wafah Chkaifi was killed by her former partner Leon McCaskie in West London on 24 January 2022. Before her death, Wafah had reported McCaskie to the police for stalking and a stalking protection order was made against him which he went onto breach. At the time of Wafah’s death, a warrant had been issued for McCaskie’s arrest but it was not executed by the officer in the case despite the level of risk he posed to Wafah.
The IOPC conducted an independent investigation and found that there were failings in how the officer had managed the case, including the failure to execute the arrest warrant. However, it concluded that these were insufficiently serious to justify misconduct proceedings and that the case should be dealt with by way of “reflective practice” instead.
Wafah’s cousin, Lamia El-Faddi, brought a judicial review of the decision of the IOPC. By a Consent Order dated 10 November 2023, the High Court quashed the first decision of the IOPC and ordered a new decision to be made by a fresh decision maker with no involvement in the previous decision.
Raj Desai, instructed by Sophie Naftalin of Bhatt Murphy, represents the family.
Read the Order of the High Court together with a Statement of Reasons here
Read the Bhatt Murphy press release here