A police control room manager who sent unarmed officers to a home hours before a mum-of-two was shot by her partner has been cleared of gross misconduct.

Hayley Burke suffered a fatal injury at her Dartford home after her neighbour told a 999 call handler six times the victim’s boyfriend Jacob Cloke had arrived with a handgun.

As patrols arrived, gunshots were heard inside the house – which also contained two children – and armed police were then deployed to the scene.

But Cloke, who was on bail after attacking Hayley, had not yet fired the handgun at anyone and it was later found he had discharged it on or at the stairs.

The 29-year-old took his partner out of the house into a nearby garage and held her hostage.

Force control room manager Inspector Thomas McCall repeatedly refused to give into the captor’s demands for items – including cigarettes, a drink, a blanket and sanitary pads.

He told officers not to hand them over until Hayley was released following advice from negotiators.

The standoff came to a tragic end when Cloke shot the 36-year-old and then turned the gun on himself. They both died in hospital days later.

Insp McCall was accused of gross misconduct after the police watchdog launched a probe into the murder-suicide.

Allegations included incorrectly deploying unarmed resources, failing to devise an adequate plan, not providing a sufficient briefing to deployed units and failing to adequately record his decision-making.

But a misconduct hearing at Kent Police Headquarters in Maidstone cleared him of five allegations of gross misconduct.

Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Pritchard, who chaired last week’s proceedings, said not sending armed officers to the scene was a “considered and reasonable response to the situation”.

The incident began when Cloke arrived at Hayley’s home in Priory Road at 10.40am on May 6 last year, ignoring bail conditions not to contact her.

Presenting counsel Stephen Morley said a neighbour dialled 999 informing the force there was a man with an injunction at the house.

“He doesn’t mention a gun but rings the police to tell them he shouldn’t be there,” he told the hearing attended by members of Hayley’s family.

“The control room begins an incident but the priority and allocation of resources means no one was sent immediately as there was no mention of a gun.”

But the situation escalated two hours later and a further 999 call came in from the same neighbour, who said: “[Cloke] has been to prison for domestics.

“He has just got back out, gone into the house, beat her and has a handgun. [Hayley] has just told me.”

According to call transcripts read at the hearing, the neighbour said six times Cloke had a handgun.

A message entered on the incident log via the computer-aided dispatch system (Cad) states: “Male has been beating her up and has now text informant he has a handgun. She is trying to get out of the property and he won’t let her out.”

Another message states: “[Hayley] told the informant the gun is loaded.”

Insp McCall becomes aware of the incident and makes an entry on the log.

“Noted,” he wrote. “I have insufficient ICI [Identity, Capability and Intent] to declare SFI [spontaneous firearms incident].” He is explaining he does not have enough information to send armed officers to the scene.

‘It was a very difficult and confusing picture…’

As a result of that decision, unarmed police are sent and McCall issues a ‘Stay Safe’ briefing over the radio.

Kent Police adopted a policy where if unarmed officers are utilised and there is a known threat risk, it is obligated to inform them of that specific threat and remind them they need to ‘stay safe’.

Risks can include a dangerous dog, possession of a knife, the suspect being a boxer or – like in this case – a loaded weapon.

Insp McCall also tactically located firearms officers closer to the scene should they be needed and ensured they were monitoring the Cad in case of escalation.

But when unarmed patrols arrived at the home shortly before 2pm, a woman was heard repeatedly shouting “No” before several gunshots.

An officer reported on the police radio: “I am not getting any luck at the front door. There is a light in the living room and a dog barking. He has a gun. Shots fired. Shots fired.”

Mr Morley argued the threshold for an armed response – which he described as “a reason to suppose” – was met.

While he says it was not “crystal clear” whether Cloke had a loaded handgun, he argues the neighbour repeatedly told police he had one.

And he raised Jacob Cloke had a warning marker for possession of a knife back in 2015, adding there were “so many red flags”.

“There is consistency of telling the police there is a gun,” he said.

“You have heard evidence all coming from one person.

“The information is coming from Hayley. She is in a very difficult situation but she is telling her neighbour there is a gun.”

The presenting counsel also told the hearing how unarmed police were concerned about attending the incident.

“Other officers were worried for themselves about going to this job,” he added.

“This was a case armed officers should have been sent to.

“They were available, it would have been proportionate and as it turns out, it was necessary.

“It was a mistake on Insp McCall’s part not to send them to that incident.”

The operations firearms commander that day was one of the officers who raised concerns about unarmed police attending the home.

Mr Morley says they are heard saying “F****** seriously, f****** seriously” after having a conversation with Insp McCall on the phone.

“First of all, I am not a guy who swears a lot,” the officer named Sgt C at the hearing said.

“If you bumped into me in the street, I wouldn’t be effing and jeffing.

“I was frustrated at the time as I was very worried about what was going on.”

Insp McCall, who wore a formal uniform decorated with medals and was seen breaking down multiple times throughout the five-day hearing, says it would be “arrogant” not to accept “with a huge degree of hindsight” he acted poorly that day.

“It is very difficult to accurately review everything I have seen, read, listened to and watched and separate it with hindsight,” he said.

“But in hindsight, I could have made a different decision to the deployment of firearms on the Cad.

“I also recognise it would not have changed the overall outcome and would have been a callout to the house and not the garage to save the two further victims, which were the children.”

Insp McCall also believed the credibility of the information provided by the informant – the neighbour – was “poor” due to conflicting reports and the control room manager’s ‘working hypothesis’ was a gun had been mentioned to escalate the police response.

“Initially [the call] came in as anonymous – then there was the issue with the incorrect address,” he added. “Calls were going to the Metropolitan area.

“There were suggestions [the informant was] at the address and not.

“It was a very difficult and confusing picture.”

Defending counsel James Lloyd says information provided by the informant was “confused, inconsistent and unreliable”.

“Insp McCall wasn’t acting on faith,” he said. “He was acting on facts and that is not something he can bear proper criticism.

“His approach is endorsed by those who train officers.”

After shots were heard inside the house, Insp McCall deployed firearms officers to the incident but before they arrived Cloke took Hayley out of the house to a nearby garage and held her hostage.

Police tried to phone Cloke but the call went to voicemail. However, he dialled 999 himself at 2.07pm and asked to be put through.

The lead negotiator contacted Cloke at 2.55pm – the only time they directly called the captor – and the hostage-taker asked for cigarettes and water to help the couple feel more comfortable.

Cloke said Hayley had not had a drink since 10am and requested these items on six further calls to the lead negotiator, who repeatedly said he would speak to his boss, Insp McCall.

Mr Morley said: “On each of these calls [Cloke] says, ‘What is going on?’, ‘Why haven’t I got an answer?’, ‘Where are my cigarettes?’.

“The negotiator told him on a call at 3.47pm he would not get cigarettes and a drink until he released Hayley.

“[Cloke] is frustrated, doesn’t want to do that, says Ms Burke is cold and hungry, and to ‘bring these things in for her, not me’.”

A blanket and sanitary pads for Hayley are also requested but again these requests are refused.

The lead negotiator repeated to Inspector McCall what Cloke had said: “There is no safe resolution. He wants the police to shoot him.

“I can hear Hayley in the background trying to keep him calm.

“He wants cigarettes and water to ‘chill out’ and ‘have a think about it’.

“If he comes out of the garage, he won’t be empty-handed and will come out with the gun pointed and held up.”

Some of the items requested by Cloke are shown to him by armed officers outside the garage in an attempt to entice him to release Hayley.

“Authorised firearms officers are telling him again he is not going to have anything at 4.26pm,” Mr Morley added.

“At 4.39pm, there are gunshots, it all goes horribly wrong and comes to a tragic end.”

One of the allegations against Insp McCall was that he impeded negotiators, relating to his instruction for Cloke’s demands for items to be refused.

But Mr Morley conceded in his closing remarks the evidence had changed and was clearer than it was at the start of the hearing.

“Insp McCall was given advice, followed it and the other [planned firearms commander] agreed with it,” he said.

“The other inspectors do not face allegations of misconduct.”

Insp McCall says he was not aware of a request for sanitary pads.

But regarding other items, such as water, he said: “The makeup of the garage and door and how achievable it would have been would have been very difficult – with him making suggestions of coming out and pointing a gun.

“Regarding a blanket and water, I didn’t feel the necessity to get those in the garage trumped him coming out and officers having to use lethal force.”

Mr Lloyd added: “There was ample contact and a clear rationale and plan for the use of those items.”

Hayley died on May 8 in King’s College Hospital after a gunshot wound to the head, while Cloke shot himself and died on May 11.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct launched an investigation and raised concerns about Insp McCall’s handling of the incident.

Five allegations were made against him amounting to alleged gross misconduct.

Insp McCall joined Kent Police in November 2000 and was the force incident manager on May 6, 2023.

He had acted in the control room in more than 40 firearms incidents over the past three years – described as an “experienced officer” and of “good standing and character”.

Insp McCall declined to answer questions relating to the five allegations of gross misconduct when interviewed but set out his account in written documents and at the five-day hearing.

Mr Morley criticised Insp McCall’s notetaking – one of the five allegations of gross misconduct – which he described as “scribbled notes” on two sides of A4 paper during the two-hour and 38-minute incident.

“It is poor and insufficient,” he said. “The Cad records lots of facts, lots of short one- or two-line entries about what is happening and decisions made but it doesn’t record the rationale, strategies and reasons the inspector made the decisions he did.

“That is why we turn to written documentation, which is lacking.”

Insp McCall says the large majority of the audit record was on the police radio, telephone calls, recording equipment, the Cad – along with his written notes.

He also describes the force control manager role as a “constant battle” as he is overseeing an “incredibly large room” of up to 60 members of staff performing calls and internet chats, managing four computer screens in front of him with a large bank of TV screens and listening to radios.

But he says “huge pressure” was put on him after a new member of staff in the control room messaged a mum’s WhatsApp group and informed them about the firearms incident.

“That caused a big tension in the local community,” he said.

‘Our thoughts remain with Hayley’s loved ones and all those affected by this tragic event…’

“I was being inundated with calls from KFRS [the fire service], Secamb [ambulance service], the advanced ambulance service and all the partner agencies which had significant concerns and were seeking confirmation with me I wasn’t dealing with a Plato [terrorism incident].

“This was after the situation at Manchester arena where there were a number of criticisms with emergency services with how it was handled.”

Insp McCall described it as a “huge, unwelcome distraction” and an investigation was later launched into the new member of staff’s actions.

A panel chaired by Asst Chf Con Pritchard cleared the officer of all five allegations of misconduct on Friday.

“The panel finds while he did initially send unarmed officers to the incident, it was a considered and reasonable response to the situation,” he said.

He added Insp McCall communicated and recorded a tactical plan and “armed officers knew what they needed to do on the ground”. A full report will be published in the coming weeks.

While the force control manager has been cleared, the full findings of the IOPC investigation of how police handled the incident are yet to be published. This is expected to happen following the inquests of both Hayley and Cloke, which have not been heard in full.

Cloke was facing multiple charges relating to abusing Hayley, having been imprisoned for attacking another woman.

In February 2022, he threatened to kill the former pub manager, grabbing her by the throat and causing her to pass out.

Hayley awoke to find Cloke shaking her – he denied attacking her, saying she must have fallen.

Feeling unwell days later, the mum-of-two went to Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, where a bleed to the brain was discovered.

The couple started going out in December 2020 and were once engaged but the relationship soured after Cloke changed following his time in prison.

Less than three weeks before he fatally shot Hayley, the scaffolder turned up at her home and later that night entered the bedroom, slammed the door and refused to let her out.

He became aggressive and wanted to snatch her puppy – threatening to break its paws – and spat in her face.

Cloke’s criminal career started at 14 when he landed before Medway Juvenile Court and throughout his life served several spells in jail for a raft of wide-ranging offences.

He was imprisoned for two years in 2021 after pleading guilty to assaulting another woman in October the previous year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how he punched her as she held their two-month-old child and threatened to "put the baby in the ground" if she called police – although a charge of making threats to kill was later dropped.

Detective Chief Superintendent Jon Armory, head of professional standards, said: “Following a serious police incident where a man and a woman both sadly lost their lives, the IOPC undertook a review of Kent Police’s actions and determined that Inspector Thomas McCall, the force incident manager at the time of the incident, should answer a case of possible gross misconduct.

“The review examined an incident when Kent Police officers were called to a residential address in Dartford in response to reports a man was breaching a court order. This developed into concerns for the welfare of a woman at the address and then subsequently a firearms incident.

“At the conclusion of a five-day public misconduct hearing, a panel with a legally qualified advisor dismissed all allegations against Insp McCall.

“Our thoughts remain with Hayley’s loved ones and all those affected by this tragic event.”