Irish man may have made call to British police that led to fatal incident, says watchdog
An Irish man shot dead by British police after they received a call wrongly saying a man fitting his description was carrying a gun, appears to have made the initial call to police himself, investigators have said.
David Joyce (38), originally from the Mervue area of Galway but living in Milton Keynes, England, did not have a gun but was carrying a steak knife when he ran at armed officers who responded to the phone call.
He died outside Milton Keynes Central train station on April 1st after being shot once in the stomach at close range by a member of Thames Valley Police.
Mr Joyce had a long history of mental health difficulties and had recently received treatment. He was well known to some members of Thames Valley Police, having been sectioned in February following a previous incident involving officers. At that stage, he asked for help with his mental health difficulties.
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The Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC), which investigates all incidents where British police discharge firearms in public, released an update on the case on Friday.
Investigators said a call was made to 999 saying 'there is a man with a gun down at the train station in Milton Keynes'.
The IOPC said the caller hung up, but the call handler phoned back and the person who answered said the man at the station 'definitely' had a gun.
According to the IOPC, the caller said 'the man with the gun was acting suspiciously [and] looked like he was about to do something bad'.
'Records show that the mobile phone number used to make the 999 call had been used to call police before and was linked to Mr Joyce,' said the IOPC.
'CCTV footage shows Mr Joyce making a phone call at a time which matches with when the 999 call to police was made.'
A preliminary coroner's hearing held in Milton Keynes the week after Mr Joyce was shot heard that whoever had initially called police with the gun report gave a description that matched the Irish man.
Mr Joyce grew up in Galway but moved to Milton Keynes in his early 20s. Although he had developed a fascination with firearms and had a criminal record in Britain for the unauthorised possession of weapons, his neighbours and friends who spoke to The Irish Times remembered him as a gentle and kind individual who had never harmed anyone.
Mr Joyce was repatriated to Galway and his funeral Mass was held on Easter Monday. His younger brother, Dean, told mourners that Mr Joyce was 'a special person, adventurous and mischievous'.
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