Norfolk Police Criticised After Telling Family to Call a Locksmith Instead of Checking on Missing Son

A police watchdog has issued a sharp rebuke to Norfolk Police after call handlers advised a worried family to contact a locksmith rather than sending officers to check on their missing son, who was found dead the following day.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) concluded that the force's 101 call handlers should have directed Hobie Harrison's parents toward mental health services when they raised concerns about him, but instead suggested they consider hiring a locksmith to gain entry to his flat.

Hobie, a 30-year-old man from Norwich who lived with schizophrenia and developmental trauma, had failed to respond to his parents' attempts to contact him on 6 August 2025. His mother and father, Mark and Roberta Harrison, grew alarmed because their son normally got in touch with them multiple times each day. When the silence stretched beyond 24 hours, they drove to his flat but discovered they could not open the door with their own key, as his key remained inserted in the lock on the inside.

The couple told Norfolk Police's call handlers that their son had a documented history of self-harm and had previously made suicidal threats. After the call handler consulted a supervisor, the family was informed that the situation did not meet the threshold for a police response and was advised to think about contacting a locksmith instead. Officers finally attended the following day, after the family made a second request for a welfare check, and found Hobie deceased inside his home.

Mark Harrison expressed the agony of not knowing whether earlier intervention could have saved his son's life. He said the family would never learn whether Hobie was still alive when they first called or whether anything could have been done to help him. He acknowledged the possibility that his son may already have died by that point, but said the uncertainty would remain with them forever.

The IOPC's report criticised Norfolk Police on several fronts. Investigators said call handlers should have asked more detailed and probing questions to properly assess the level of risk Hobie faced, and that the force should have provided his parents with a clearer explanation of why officers were not being dispatched under its Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) guidelines. That policy, which Norfolk Police said it was following, restricts police attendance at welfare calls to situations involving what it defines as an immediate risk to life.

The watchdog also took issue with how the force handled the family's subsequent complaint, which was lodged in October 2025. In its response, Norfolk Police told the parents that officers should not have attended either call, including the second one that led to the discovery of Hobie's body. The IOPC described that reply as unnecessary and insensitive.

David Ford, the IOPC's director of oversight and casework, said the watchdog had raised concerns with the force about how it interprets RCRP and how it monitors the initiative. He said that as a result of those concerns, Norfolk Police has committed to undertaking a review to examine whether there are any organisational lessons to be learned.

Norfolk Police said it was reviewing the IOPC's findings but declined to comment further because an inquest into Hobie's death has yet to take place. That hearing is scheduled for November.

Hobie had been under the care of the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust Community Mental Health Team. His parents said he also had a history of drug use. The couple adopted Hobie when he was a child and recalled that he had seemed to be in good spirits the last time they saw him before his death. They described him as funny and mischievous, a man who loved music and enjoyed gardening. One photograph released by the family shows him smiling at a table with a drink, while another captures him performing a gig on the promenade in Gorleston, Norfolk, acoustic guitar in hand and the sea behind him.

Roberta Harrison said the sudden lack of contact from her son was entirely out of character and deeply unsettling. She explained that he would normally reach out several times a day, so the silence stood out as something very unusual. When the couple arrived at his flat and could not get inside, Mark said they were completely certain Hobie was in there and that something was seriously wrong because he was not responding.

The case has drawn attention to the wider debate over the Right Care, Right Person approach, which was introduced as a way to reduce the amount of time police officers spend on mental health-related welfare calls that forces argue are better handled by health and social care professionals. Supporters say the policy frees up officers to focus on crime, while critics warn it can leave vulnerable people and their families without timely help when they need it most. The IOPC's findings suggest Norfolk Police may not fully grasp the risks associated with the policy's implementation.

For the Harrison family, the consequences of that day in August 2025 remain raw. They have said they felt unsure where to turn after being told their concerns did not meet the threshold for a police response, and they have questioned whether a different outcome might have been possible. The IOPC's intervention has now put the force's call-handling practices and its application of RCRP under formal scrutiny, with the promised review expected to examine whether organisational changes are needed.