An Essex Polic officer has found to have committed misconduct in connection with their actions when responding to an inicident involving a woman who was murdered eight days later.

PC Finley Clark and another officer were called to an address in The Street on August 11 2019 to reports of the incident.

The victim, Linda Vilika, reported that her husband, Wilfred Jacob, had been recording her in her home, had made threats on WhatsApp, and she felt at risk.

Linda Vilika was found dead at the same address eight days later.

Her husband, Wilfred Jacob, was convicted of her murder in January.

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A misconduct hearing was held at Chelmsford Civic Centre.

The panel, chaired by Monica Daley-Campbell found the allegations proven at the level of misconduct, in respect of the following allegations:

PC Clark failed to undertake any adequate investigation into whether Mr Jacob had made secret recordings of Ms Vilika, failing to take any positive action by arresting Mr Jacob and/or examining his electronic equipment;

Having been told by Ms Vilika that her husband had made various threats, PC Clark failed to undertake any adequate investigation into whether Mr Jacob had made threats by WhatsApp, email or otherwise.

PC Clark provided an inaccurate account on the crime report with regards to the allegations.

PC Clark provided an inaccurate account on the STORM report with regards to the examination of Whatsapp messages.

A panel found the allegation that PC Clark allowed her body worn camera to be turned off, and/or failing to turn it back on, in breach of the Essex Police policy, not proven. Initial allegations of a breach of the honesty and integrity standards of professional behaviour at the level of gross misconduct, were also not proven.

PC Clark was issued with a written warning.

Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills said: “At the root of this matter is Linda Vilika – a woman who tragically lost her life and we will not, and must not, lose sight of that.

“Tackling domestic abuse and protecting and supporting victims is a priority for our force.

“PC Finley Clark’s actions fell below the standards we expect of all of our officers and staffHer actions do not represent how we investigate domestic offences or support vulnerable victims as a force.

“This was an isolated incident which we referred to the IOPC immediately after we became aware of the issue.

“We continue to work to do our best for victims of crime and improve the service we provide to them.

“Where mistakes are made we learn from them and where improper conduct is found we address it robustly as this process demonstrates.”

“We have dedicated, specialist teams who investigate offences, provide enhanced training to new officers around domestic offences, and have introduced a specially designed domestic abuse training programme which is being rolled out to all officers."