Police failed to respond to 999 call from house where bodies found

By Alex Pope & Mariam Issimdar

BBC News, Norfolk

Norfolk Police has referred itself to the independent watchdog, saying it did not respond to a 999 call from a house where a family was later found dead.

An emergency call was made from a man in a house in Costessey, near Norwich, at 06:00 GMT on Friday. Police resources were not deployed.

Officers later forced entry to the property at 07:15 and found the bodies of a man, woman and two young girls.

The force has referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct.

It is the second referral the force has made to the IOPC following the deaths.

The force confirmed its officers were also called to the same house on 14 December as part of a missing persons inquiry and said that particular investigation would now be re-examined.

On Friday, police forced entry to the house in Allan Bedford Crescent following a call from a member of the public.

All four people who died were found with injuries and post-mortem examinations will be held to establish cause of their deaths.

The man found dead in the home has since been named locally as Bartlomiej Kuczynski.

Flowers left in Allan Bedford Crescent, Costessey, Norwich

Roads on the Queen’s Hills estate are still closed while police investigate.

Det Ch Insp Chris Burgess said: “The man and two children lived at the address, but the woman involved was visiting and didn’t live at the property. Next of kin have been informed and we are supporting them.”

On Saturday he added: “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.”

Police appealed to anyone who may have been in the area on Friday morning, and who may have seen or heard anything, to contact them.

Police presence in Allan Bedford Crescent, Costessey, Norwich

The Diocese of Norwich said its “thoughts and prayers” were with those impacted by the tragic news and churches in Old Costessey and Easton would be open.

Margaret Proudfoot, a lay minister at St Edmunds Church in The Street Old Costessey, said from 15:00 until 16:00 the church would be open for local people to come along, say a prayer and light a candle.

Justin Sandifer lives opposite and said the situation was “just really tragic”.

“It’s a real shock what’s happened, it’s completely unexpected. This stuff doesn’t happen around here.

“Where I used to live in London you used to see the police cordons but to wake up yesterday with a lot of police and ambulance arriving first thing in the morning – that was a really strange time.”