A Wiltshire Police worker’s incompetence led to the stabbing of a woman by her partner after a botched Clare’s Law disclosure.
A disciplinary panel at Police HQ in Devizes ruled on 8 October that Gavin Hudson would have been dismissed without notice for gross misconduct if he had not already resigned from the force.
The IOPC launched its investigation into the employee, who worked as a Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) – also known as Clare’s Law – researcher, on 5 September 2023.
Between September 2023 and April 2024, the force referred ten Clare’s Law applications and three linked complaints for scrutiny by the watchdog.
The scheme enables people to ask police whether a partner or former partner has a history of violence or abuse, aiming to protect those at risk of domestic harm.
But investigators found Hudson, 40, inadequately researched DVDS applications and, in some cases, told people there was no information on file without checking police systems.
As a result, several women went on to experience emotional abuse and violence at the hands of partners who had abusive histories.
In one case, a Clare’s Law request made in July 2022 on behalf of a woman revealed her partner had a Violent and Sexual Offender Register (ViSOR) warning marker.
Hudson failed to access or act on the information. The man later stabbed her several times and was jailed for attempted murder.
In another case, he failed to identify that a man had a domestic assault record on the Police National Computer. He closed the application without taking further action.
Hudson also sent out no further action letters without obtaining a supervisor’s review.
A disciplinary hearing concluded he had breached professional standards around honesty and integrity, following instructions, carrying out work responsibilities, and discreditable conduct.
He will now be placed on the barred list, preventing him from working in policing again.
IOPC Director Derrick Campbell, said: “Hudson did not follow Home Office guidance, and left several women unaware of the potential danger their partners presented to them.
“His dereliction of duty had real consequences as some of the women later suffered domestic abuse.
“We’ve listened to the victims to hear their stories and understand how they were affected. Many of them said they would have ended their relationships had the information on their partners been disclosed to them.
“Hudson’s actions will have undermined public confidence in the effectiveness of Wiltshire Police’s DVDS processes.
“However, we acknowledge that on discovering process failures, the force conducted a thorough review of more than 3,000 DVDS applications for reassurance and dip sampled many cases dealt with by Hudson.”
Hudson joined Wiltshire Police’s Control Room and Contact Centre before taking a domestic abuse research role in 2015.
The IOPC found he skipped through mandatory online training courses for his role, completing some in a matter of seconds – making it unlikely he absorbed key information.
Mr Campbell urged police forces to remind staff of their Clare’s Law responsibilities and to review training protocols.
He added: “We know some police forces are more proactive than others in disclosing information about potentially dangerous partners. Guidance was issued to all forces in 2021 to share best practice and help form a consistent approach.”
