Domestic violence victim’s fury as police officer will get to keep their job

A police officer is facing disciplinary action over ‘misconduct’, but will keep his job, after a mother was wrongly told that her Peaky Blinders actor partner had never been reported for domestic abuse – weeks before he battered her.

Hairdresser Lyndsey Yarwood had made enquiries into her partner’s past using Clare’s Law but a member of Wiltshire Police’s domestic violence disclosure team told her he was clean.

However this was wrong – wannabe actor Oliver Cox, who was an extra in Peaky Blinders, had actually previously assaulted an ex-girlfriend and attacked a woman on a night out in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Just weeks after her enquiry, steroid-pumped Cox, then 33, brutally assaulted Lyndsey, then 35, on December 15, 2018, and left with two black eyes and bruises to her body.

Days before attacking Lyndsey, the brute had even shared a post on Facebook praising Clare’s Law as something that not only helps women but can ‘defend men who have been labelled’.

Lyndsey only discovered Cox’s history after speaking out about her ordeal on social media and being contacted by his victims.

Police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct [IOPC] last week confirmed a member of Wiltshire Police’s domestic violence disclosure team had a case to answer for misconduct.

But Lyndsey is outraged that they will simply be retrained – along with another member of staff – on how to perform the checks properly and face ‘management action’.

Lyndsey has had to move house, change her car and phone number but claims she hasn’t received ‘a letter or apology’ from the force.

Furthermore, Wiltshire Police realised their error in January 2019 but failed to refer the case to the police watchdog until April 2019.

Clare’s Law, also known as Domestic Violence Closure Scheme, was introduced in 2014 and allows police to disclose information about a partner’s previous history of domestic violence or violent acts.

Lyndsey, from Melksham, Wiltshire, said: ‘It’s taken a long time [for the report to be published].

‘Hopefully it’ll encourage other police to check properly – including any name changes and on the internet.

‘This will save lives. People won’t be able to slip through the net as easily.

‘I feel 100 percent let down by Wiltshire Police. I haven’t had a letter, an apology or any correspondence. I could have died because of their negligence.

‘I could have lost my life or my kids. Considering the results have been published, I did think they’d give me an email or something.’

Despite pleading guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, Cox’s 18-month sentence was suspended for two years, meaning he walked free from court.

Lyndsey has moved on since her attack and worked hard to rebuild her life, but she has been forced to make a lot of changes for her own safety as Cox continues to walk free.

While her physical wounds have healed, her ‘anxiety’ has remained and she has been left ‘too scared’ to enter into a new relationship.

Lyndsey said: ‘It’s really good to see [the police] are finally going to change something – that there’s things that are going to be put in place.

‘The future is bright. I’m happy. I haven’t got any of that stress or worry.

‘I’ve moved house, I’ve sorted out everything. I have a normal life now, really, but the scars are still there.

‘I have a new house, new surroundings, no one knows where I live. I have a new car, new phone number.

‘I never publish where I am on social media until I’ve been there.

‘I’m too scared to have a new partner now. I don’t believe anything anyone says.’

Cox met women online and wooed them with grand romantic gestures – including turning up at the airport when they landed from holiday and proposing after just a month.

However his charming persona would quickly change and he ditched the rose petal baths in favour of terrifying attacks that left some victims needing restraining orders to keep him away.

Cox allegedly concocted an elaborate web of deceit around his victims – claiming to be an actor, a boxer, a CBD oil company owner and even posing as one of the women’s jealous exes online.

Lyndsey first met Cox on Plenty of Fish in early 2018 and he appeared like ‘everything you see in rom-coms’ and just a month after they had met face-to-face in August that year, he proposed.

Just three months later, Lyndsey was violently assaulted in a hotel room and Cox was arrested.

Wiltshire Police were aware of Lyndsey’s attack in January 2019 and there was a ‘significant delay’ in the force referring the issue to the watchdog, according to the IOPC’s report.

In January this year, the IOPC’s investigation was concluded but the police force again took five months to accept its findings.

In response to Wednesday’s report, Wiltshire Police have agreed to retrain two staff and one member of the force will be given ‘management action’.

However ‘management action’ can simply include ‘showing the officer how their behaviour fell short of expectations’ and ‘identifying expectations for future conduct’.

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said: ‘We can confirm that this initial complaint was referred to our Professional Standards Department in the first instance and a review was carried out to determine what happened in this case and why a disclosure was not made.

‘Following this, the complaint was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

‘The IOPC conducted an independent investigation into the case which found that one member of police staff had a case to answer for misconduct and they have since been given additional training on how checks of this nature should be conducted.

‘As the report states, as a result of this incident we have since proactively updated and amended the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme process so that all ‘right to ask’ applications now result in a face to face meeting.

‘This enables the DVDS team to build a rapport with the applicant and provides an opportunity for further, more in-depth questions to be asked.’

In response to the IOPC report, a spokesperson for Refuge, the national domestic abuse helpline, claimed ‘women need to feel empowered by the criminal justice system, not disappointed by it’.

Sandra Horley CBE, chief executive of Refuge, said: ‘All too often, domestic abuse is seen as a ‘private matter,’ happening behind closed doors. But the statistics alone should be enough to make domestic abuse everyone’s concern.

‘One in three women in England and Wales aged 16 to 59 will experience some form of domestic abuse during their lifetime.

‘The majority of survivors still don’t feel able to report domestic abuse and even when they do, the statistics show us that it’s unlikely the perpetrator will be arrested and charged.

‘What sort of message does this send to survivors? Women need to feel empowered by the criminal justice system, not disappointed by it.’