Police in East Lothian have been slammed by a report that found they failed to send any officers to the home of a Musselburgh woman who was found dead in a cupboard there 12 hours later, a report has found.

The 39-year-old woman - who was on the police's 'Vulnerable Person Database' - was reported to police by a concerned family member on May 8, 2018  as she had not been seen or heard from since May 5.

The call was made to Police Scotland at around 1.55pm on May 8.

The family member's call was actually a Grade 2 call: meaning Area Control Room staff should have made every effort to allocate resources to find her within 15 minutes of the call.

However, there were no officers available as they were already dealing with other priority incidents. The police have been told to take any necessary action to address ongoing shortfalls - possibly caused by budget cuts - that could have led to this happening.

As no resources had been deployed by 5pm - over three hours later - on May 8 a police sergeant went to the address in Musselburgh, East Lothian , "on his own initiative".

As there was no reply, he returned at 9pm - over seven hours later - as he was still concerned for the woman's welfare.

He managed to get in by slipping the lock, but found nothing during a quick search.

When he returned to the police station he learned that the Social Work department and a family member had provided more information about the woman and the incident was declared a Missing Person Enquiry.

Other officers went to the 39-year-old woman's home where they carried out a full search.

Her body was found in a cupboard at around 2.30am on May 9, with the cause of death determined as 'Alcoholic Ketoacidosis'.

The report said that despite the fact that the incident was allocated Grade 2 status - priority which relates to a 'Crime/Incident where there is a degree of urgency associated with police action' - no police resources were dispatched by the Area Control Room to the home address of the deceased during the entire incident.

"The only officers to attend, did so unactioned and on their own initiative."

The report said it cannot be determined from the medical evidence whether the woman would have been found alive if an effective search of the property had taken place at around 9pm on May 8.

PIRC has made a number of recommendations including that police should review the resource management and non-deployment of officers to the incident and take any necessary action to address ongoing shortfalls.

Police Scotland is also asked to "examine its decision making process in relation to risk throughout this entire incident (between 1.55pm hours on 8 May 2018 and 2.30am on 9 May 2018), giving particular cognisance to the facts that Police Scotland graded the woman as a Low Risk Missing Person despite information being provided by a family member and on police systems which indicated that she had serious health issues." 

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Anderson of Police Scotland said: "Police Scotland's sympathies remain with family of the woman concerned.

"We accept the findings of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner and are actively working to address the issues identified."

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