Police criticised for tweeting Top Gun GIF to celebrate forensic work after death on A21 near Tonbridge
Published: 12:27, 08 July 2023
Updated: 17:39, 08 July 2023
A grieving mum has criticised police for posting “horrendous” and “insensitive” tweets in the aftermath of her 24-year-old daughter’s death.
Law graduate Azra Kemal died after falling 30ft from the Medway Viaduct road bridge on the A21 near Tonbridge in July 2020 – but within hours of the tragedy Crime Scene Investigators were celebrating their work on the case with a gif from the film Top Gun.
The tweet showed the Top Gun characters Maverick and Goose high-fiving each other, and added: “A really busy morning for all of the Kent CSI’s, with the wonders of modern technology we were able to identify a deceased person within about 90 mins of being at the scene by sending an image of a fingerprint direct to our FB Bureau. Great teamwork.”
Azra’s mother Nevres told Sky News she was shocked to find out about the tweet, along with two other “insensitive” posts that have since been removed.
“That tweet was just horrendous,” she said. “I really could not believe that a professional police officer 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.”
Another tweet praised drone work carried out at the scene with the hashtag #crackingbitofkit, while a follow up tweet, within hours of Azra’s death, said police were “satisfied there are no suspicious circumstances” – while Azra’s mother was being told they were still investigating.
An inquest held in November 2020 heard that Azra had fallen after the car she’d been travelling in with a friend had caught fire. The pair had been crossing over the central barriers of the A21 to seek help, but Azra fell through a gap between the two separate carriageways, which could not be seen in the dark.
The inquest later heard evidence Azra had been over the drink-drive limit at the time of the incident. She was described as stumbling and unsteady when she spoke to a police officer an hour before her death, after he spotted her car on the A27 with its lights off – but she had then sped off at over 100 mph.
Azra’s friend Omar Allen said he had heard Azra scream as she fell, and she had called for him to come down after the fall. He had tried to leap from the barrier, to cling to a tree, but said it was dark and he couldn't see his friend.
Emergency services were called at around 2.30am and fought to save her life but sadly, Azra died at the scene.
Coroner Mr Blunsdon recorded a verdict of misadventure.
Despite the inquest’s findings, Azra’s mother said she was unhappy with the the police investigation, and suggested further action should have been undertaken, including a forensic post-mortem.
A Kent Police statement said the investigation had been “full and thorough”, adding: “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.
“In 2022, The Independent Office for Police Conduct 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.”
The force noted that a forensic post-mortem was not carried out, as there were no suspicious circumstances.
Kent Police did not wish to comment further on the contentious tweets – which have since been removed - as the complaint regarding them was currently being reviewed.
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Chris Hunter