Below the Medway Viaduct on the A21 in Kent, nettles have reclaimed a shrine left in the memory of Azra Kemal.
The 21-year-old died there in July 2020 after falling from the dual carriageway bridge. Her car had broken down nearby and caught fire. She was travelling back to London with a male friend.
Paramedics had tried in vain to save Azra and police were called to the scene, but Azra’s family were recently shocked to discover what the police tweeted in the immediate wake of that investigation.
In the tweet, posted on the day Azra died, crime scene investigators congratulate themselves on the speed of their work by using a gif from the movie Top Gun where characters Maverick and Goose high-five.
Azra Kemal fell to her death from a dual carriageway bridge
This celebration was over the fact that they “identified the deceased person within about 90 minutes of being at the scene”.
Azra’s mother Nevres Kemal told me. “That tweet was just horrendous. I could not believe that professional police officers would high-five themselves and pat themselves on the back, on the back of my daughter’s demise.
“It’s more than insensitive. It’s unacceptable. What is the mindset of people investigating crimes on our behalf?”
Another tweet celebrates the police drone work with the hashtag “crackingbitofkit”, and another reports within hours that the police “are satisfied there are no suspicious circumstances”, even though Ms Kemal says she was told they were still investigating.
Crime scene investigators used a ‘high-five’ gif from the movie Top Gun to congratulate themselves
It happened late at night. The initial suspect, the man Azra was travelling with, said that in the darkness, Azra had not seen the drop between the carriageways, as she climbed over the central reservation barrier. He was released with no further action and the investigation closed before the end of its first day.
Kate Ellis, from the Centre for Women’s Justice, who is supporting the family said: “It strikes me that a murder investigation being opened and closed within 24 hours is not an adequate investigation.
“I think it’s shocking that with an investigation ongoing, and in fact within a few hours of Nevres having been informed of her daughter’s death, the police would brag about the expediency of their investigation or the impressiveness of their kit.”
Azra Kemal’s mural underneath the road she fell from
The family think the investigation was wrapped up too quickly.
If they hadn’t closed the case, Kent Police could have kept forensic material taken from their initial suspect, and they could have conducted a forensic post-mortem on Azra’s body, to look for clues as to whether anything physical happened to Azra before she fell.
Instead, they did a standard post-mortem deciding that what happened was not suspicious.
An independent review of the investigation by Essex Police found that it “may have been prudent” to release the suspect under investigation rather than close the case.
The review supported the idea of conducting a forensic post-mortem, stating: “The reason for this would be to capture a forensic level of detail at post-mortem which could assist in proving or disproving matters that were raised at a later time.”
Adding that “it would have avoided unanswered questions, by being able to negate any third-party involvement”.
Azra’s mother says her daughter should have had a forensic post-mortem because of the circumstances of her death
Ms Kemal says of the police: “Do the job you are supposed to do. Look at the information, look at the leads, look at the timelines, look at the interviews, go back to the witnesses, because no one saw Azra die.
“There should be a uniform process. If there is a death and there’s no witnesses to a death, everybody should have that right to a forensic autopsy.”
Kent Police say their investigation was “full and thorough”.
A spokesperson told Sky News: “Officers determined there were no suspicious circumstances, and a man who had initially been arrested in connection with the incident was released without charge.
“A police investigation into the circumstances then continued for several months to assist an inquest by the coroner. The subsequent inquest into the death returned a verdict of misadventure.
“A complaint about the quality of the investigation was made to Kent Police in November 2020. This complaint was sent to an independent force to review, which concluded the service provided by Kent Police had been acceptable.
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“In February 2022, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) received a request to carry out a further investigation into the complaint.
“In response, the IOPC concluded that the investigation into the complaint had been ‘reasonable and proportionate’ and that an acceptable service had been provided in respect of the criminal investigation into the woman’s death. A request to review the complaint was not upheld.”
That decision has since been successfully appealed through a judicial review and part of the IOPC investigation has been reopened.
The offending tweets have been removed, and the complaint is being reviewed by an independent police force.