A woman who went wandering into the woods whilst suffering a mental health episode was shocked to return home and find police had spent several hours inside her house chilling and watching Netflix.
A search party had been looking for Abbygail Lawton, 21, in Wigan with a police helicopter and drone after concerns for her welfare on January 3. She was missing for 11 hours before being found by two police officers, and spent the night in a cell after being ‘arrested for wasting police time’.
When the mum-of-one returned home the next day and checked her CCTV, she claims two officers had spent four hours in her home ‘mocking’ her, watching Netflix on her TV, and using her dumbbells.
Abbygail says: ‘The two male officers came in and turned on Netflix on my TV, making comments about what I had watched. They made comments that I’d watched the Boy in Striped Pyjamas – which I had previously – and another series I’d watched. Then they say “we could so with watching something like Come Dine With Me” before the other officer sees Dog’s Behaving Badly and starts saying how “it’s quite good”. They then choose something on Netflix and start watching TV. One of the officers then gets my dumbbell and starts doing weights, which you can see in the footage, before sitting back down.’
She claimed one officer even looked directly into the camera and said: ‘Hello Abbygail, I know you’re watching us.’
The mum said the two police started watching TV because another female officer told them ‘you might as well chill here in case she comes back’ after carrying out the search of the house. Which I think is an important bit of context? They’ve been told to wait at the property in case the missing person returns home, and then turned on the TV and put a few reps in while waiting. Would it be an issue if they sat on the sofa and played on their phones for 4 hours instead?
I guess the argument is that they were using her belongings, but it’s not like they went in the kitchen and made themselves a fry-up, is it? At worst, they changed up her Netflix algorithm, but that’s a minor in the grand scheme of things. Would you really begrudge someone stuck in your house for 4 hours to turn on the TV and judge your (subjectively) poor taste in shows?
Abbygail made a complaint to Greater Manchester Police, saying her privacy was breached. She also claims she was wrongly arrested as she was having a mental health crisis.
She added: ‘I’m disappointed and ashamed by the two officers sitting watching TV, the comments that they made and how they acted at my property. I’ve not given them consent to be in my house or watch TV or use my gym equipment. It was as though they were mocking me and taking the mick while I was out in the woods in a crisis, the weather was awful that day, raining and cold, I was clearly having a mental health crisis and they were just sat here watching TV as if to say, “F**k it, we don’t care if she’s missing.”‘
Well, that’s one way of looking at it. The force did not see it that way though and following an investigation determined the behaviour of the two officers did not breach the standards of professional behaviour, but that they should reflect on and learn from the complaint.
The most important part of this story is that Abbygail was found safe and sound and that she’s getting the help she needs to deal with her mental health issue. Onwards and upwards!
For unreal footage of an ‘indigenous, non-binary, socially-anxious’ drunk driver trying to talk their way out of an arrest, click HERE. It doesn’t quite go to plan.
