Four years after Love Island presenter Caroline Flack took her own life after being charged with assault by beating, the Metropolitan Police says it plans to partly reinvestigate the decision to charge the TV presenter, claiming “new witness evidence may be available”.
Flack had been host of ITV’s ongoing series, Love Island, when she was arrested for allegedly assaulting her then-boyfriend, Lewis Burton, in December 2019. At first, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Flack would only receive a caution, but after an appeal from the Met, she was charged.
Flack’s mother, Christine, who has been critical of how the Met handled the case, made a fresh complaint because, she says, there are still “important unanswered questions”.
After Flack took her life, the Met’s handling of the case was investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), but no misconduct was found. However, they did ask that the Met apologise to Flack’s family for not explaining why the original CPS decision was appealed. This apology was rejected by Christine Flack.
According to the Met, a new complaint has now been referred to the IOPC. In a statement to the PA news agency, the Met says: “The IOPC decided the majority of the matters had previously been dealt with and no further action was required. The IOPC returned one aspect of the complaint back to the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) to consider further.
“This relates to the actions of officers in appealing an initial decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to charge Ms Flack, and because new witness evidence may be available. DPS officers are now making further enquiries in relation to this.”
In a statement to the BBC, an IOPC spokesperson wrote: “On the basis there may be new witness evidence available, we returned one aspect of the complaint back to the Met to investigate.”
The Metropolitan Police maintain both the investigation and the appeal to reconsider CPS’ initial decision not to prosecute were handled correctly.
