“In response to the comments from Richard from Northam regarding Mr Hipolit Legowski I find that the statemnent that he has made is innacurate and incomplete.
The article in the paper is based on the IPCC press release statement and I would imagine Richards comments are in response to that., however to put the incident into prospective the information which follows is taken from the full IPCC report which I have read and still retain a copy.
Mr Legowski was not stopped by the police but had stopped in a lay by and was approached by an off duty policeman who requested assistance
He told the police that he was only 30 minutes from home and nothing that they said would convince him otherwise and eventually he was detained under the Mental Health Act for his own safety and was taken to a place of safety which in this case was a police station
Under PACE the police have a set proceedure for dealing with people who are detained under the M.H.A. namely
they should be booked in as soon as possible and a record of their time in custody started.
They should be assessed officially in the presence of an Approved Social Worker and either a doctor or a psychiatric trained official or both, and the interveiw recorded
This did not happen because he was not booked in and he wasonly spoken to by the duty doctor who was called to the station.
The doctor stated that he was not a candidate for detaining under the MHA, but added later that he should be escorted home because if left on his own he would get lost.,but the police stated that this was not possible because of a lack of available resourses.
He was not taken to the motorway and pointed in the right direction as is stated by Richard but was taken back to his car which was on the Bideford side of Barnstable and given instructions on how to get back to the motorway.
During the journey back to his car he asked the officers if they were taking him home and all the time remained adamant that he was only 30 minutes from home because he had seen signs for Wellington and there is a Wellington less than 15 miles from where he lives.
Bearing in mind that this man was almos t88 years of age, and showed the first signs of Dementia and was totally confused and unable to comprehend the situation he was in, and had been taken off the road less than 3 hours earlier for his own safety yet was being put back into the same situation again should have set alarm bells ringing somewhere.
Had the police followed proceedure then being unable get an ASW he would have had to have been kept at the station in safety overnight.
The police made little effort to ascertain if he had family or contact anyone yet one telephone call to Shifnal Police station would have resulted in the details of his son and would have enabled one of us to travel down there to collect him
Later that morning an employee from a Service Station at Umberleigh which is South of where his car was contacted the police saying that he an elderly gentleman there who said he had been driving all night trying to get home and was lost and asked that they attend.
The response he got was that they were aware of this gentleman and that he could continue on his journey which we later found out was caused by confused computer entries.
Where there is a welfare situation the police have a duty to attend but failed to do so, and as far as we know this was the last contact he had with anyone before he was found in the field at Hartlands two days later.
This was not the last mistake made by the police however because when the farmer on whose land he was found reported an abandoned vehicle the police person who took the call incorrectly noted the registration number that he was given and because the farmer was colour blind this error was compounded and caused additional delay before they realised that there may be a link to the missing person reports and a search started.
You may not be aware but the investigation by the IPCC who”

“The following comments are in response to the comments made by Richard of Northam.
His information concerning Mr Legowski is innacurate and incomplete, and the information that follows is taken from the complete IPCC report and not the Press Release on which I believe the newspaper arcticle and Richards comments are based.
Mr Legowski was not stopped by the police but had stopped in a layby and was approached by an off duty policeman who requested assistance.
Eventually he was detained under the Mental Health Act for his own safety and was taken to a place of safety which in this case was a police station.
The police haveset proceedures for dealing+32]#r5ts”

“I must take issue with Jim, of Barnstable(if that is his real name) for his racialistic comments towards Mr Hipolit Legowski
His comments are without substance because when the Germans invaded his village in Poland he and many others were sent to forced labour camps,where he escaped and eventually joined the Allied troops in Italy, and after the war settled in England in 1947 where he married an,English girl, raised a family and became a Naturalised British Citizen.
He worked all his life in this country until he was 70 without being an ILLEGAL or SPONGING off the state as has been suggested and had become a popular member of the community
He used to help the police from time to time acting as an interpreter because this area has an active Polish community.
I married Mr Legowski,s eldest daughter and knew him for over 20 years, and unlike this Jim, I am not ashamed to put my full name to my comments, and would add further that although I do not know the age of this Jim, without men of Mr Legowski generation things may have turned out very differently for this country
The whole family is appalled that this man can make such comments without even the slightest knowledge of the character of the man,
When this tragedy happened he was almost 88 and even though he had early signs of Dementia, in this day and age with the resorses available more could have been and should have been done to help him by the police
I would ack this Jim if the roles were reversed would he feel the same as us, but judging by his comments maybe not”

“He was from Poland, so he shouldn't have been in our country, working illegally and spongeing off benefits paid for by our taxes. Glad he's dead.”

“I'm sorry for the man who died and his family, but the officers stopped the man and took him to the police station, he was seen by a doctor and found not to be suffering mental health issues.
He was advised to check in to a hotel, which he refused. He was escorted to the motorway and pointed in the direction of of his destination.
The officers may not have contacted the social services, Have you ever tried to get a social worker to do some thing at 2.30am.
Don't you just love the IPCC sitting in their Ivory Towers with the powers that heignsight gives them, if there were less people in the IPCC and more officers on the street then they could have shared their skills and advice with the over worked and under staffed officers who dealt with Mr Hipolit Konrad.”

“"Police net 14 drivers in clamp down" This is the kind of thing why, only interested in quick money making nets and work!”

“Back in the 80's I headbutted 54 eggs and smashed each one, unfortunately I didn't get into the guiness book of records.”

“"Once I managed to eat an entire packet of cookies all to myself. You wouldn't have thought it possible, its only for the shire fact that I am THE COOKIE MONSTER!!!!" - someone else for the Woodtown nuthouse...”

“Once I managed to eat an entire packet of cookies all to myself. You wouldn't have thought it possible, its only for the shire fact that I am THE COOKIE MONSTER!!!!”