Binge probe cost £80k
A POLICE force has been slammed after sending two officers on a £6,153 trip to South Korea to retrieve images from a mobile phone. Footage could only be recovered by its maker based there.
It was part of a probe costing £80,000 into the death of a Polish migrant, who collapsed in the street after binge drinking.
He had been ejected from a party. Detectives in South Yorkshire at first thought Krzysztof Stalmach. 36, had been murdered and made two trips to Poland to find witnesses, even though it happened in Barnsley.
Matthew Elliott, boss of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The police must investigate deaths, but this case was a fiasco.”
Police admit £40,000 of costs was in overtime. The inquest verdict was accidental death.